AN: I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. I'm really sorry about that by the way, it started as regular ass writers block and then I had some real life shit decide to rear it's ugly head and make things worse. Hopefully I should be able to update this semi-frequently now, especially since I've got a better idea how the rest of the story will be playing out. Nothing is set in stone until it's been uploaded though, so feel free to fling ideas at me if you want or just discuss where you think the story is headed. Also, it's been a while since I read the GGO light novels, and what little I remember was actually pretty close to the anime, so don't expect any of the little novel only tidbits I was throwing in before.
Review Responses:
shadowchaos5150- If you thought that last update gap was ridiculous, try a whole freaking year apparently. Seriously, where did all that time go?! But anyway! Yeah, Sinon has made her appearance, and as for the rest of that, as you guessed, a lot of those questions are answered this chapter given how close in the timeline the events are to each other.
Draconic Reborn- Ummmm. You didn't seem to pick up on the fact that her fear and guilt was making her irrational. That's really all I've got to say to the two reviews you left. Because no, Kirito isn't a racist bigot and no Marzanna doesn't have a bad opinion on him, she was just being irrational out of fear that he'd leave her.
Even as Marzanna pulls her coat tighter around herself in a vain attempt to warm up, she can't help but share a smile with Asuna. Her friends and daughter were all so excited to be visiting the magical world for the first time that even though she'd been in various shopping centers and villages all over the world too many times to count over the course of her life and travels for Demon Hunting their excitement was becoming contagious.
Even Kazuto, who had been to Hogsmeade the one time with her, seemed excited. Though in all fairness, given that they'd first been too busy, then chosen to put it off since Yui's body was nearly done so she could go with them and experience the magical world, that might very well be because part of today's agenda was to finally get Kazuto's wand, so it actually wasn't that surprising that he was excited.
They seem to grow confused when they stop in front of a mall, but it's Argo who voices the question as she crosses her arms, "Why are we at a mall, weren't you going to take us to…" She flicks a glance around at the crowds, "Uh, the other side of things?"
She laughs as she leads her friends inside, "First of all, you don't need to worry about mentioning the magical world so much. Most people are too caught up in their own lives to even notice, and for those who do?" She shrugs, "Either they aren't superstitious and brush it off without thinking much about it, or they are and they brush it off because they either assume we're talking about Wicca and stuff or don't expect magicals to look like normal people and discuss it casually in the open."
She shakes her head, "And the few people who believe in it enough to not brush it off generally aren't seen in a very good light by society, you know, the conspiracy theorists, die hard superstitious, and crazies to the rest of the world. So no one really bothers to worry about it. It's only when people actually see something or something is caught on video that anyone does anything, and only because if there are enough of those then things will be out in the open again. Of course, people and videos inevitably slip through the cracks, but everyone's heard of people who swear they saw something or seen some crazy video online, but before you were brought in the know when was the last time you took those stories seriously or thought any of those videos were anything but fake?"
Her friends give her initially surprised looks, before one by one fading into thoughtfulness. It's a slowly nodding Diabel that responds, "That makes sense actually. As long as the majority think the evidence is fake and the eyewitnesses aren't reliable… It's a shame about those people though. It's not very fair to them, everyone thinking they're crazy just because they saw something they shouldn't have. And while I'm sure some of them might have been actively searching out the magical world for some reason or another, to prove a creature exists or on a dare or whatever, I'm sure most of them are just cases of being in the wrong place at the wrong time… Still, I suppose it's a good thing so many people disbelieve them and the videos and crap, since it would most likely be disastrous for everyone if the magical world was revealed."
Asuna nods back, "Yeah, it isn't very fair, but what can we do really?"
She huffs, "While we're certainly not denying that things like the witch trials happened and at certain points in history magicals were less than welcome in the world, my family believes that nowadays enough of the negative superstition has dispelled that it wouldn't be that bad. People are a lot more understanding nowadays. For instance, in older times they knew pretty much nothing about recessive genes, only knowing things like sometimes people would look more like their great grandparents for unknown reasons and the like, so if a child was born into a family that hadn't had any active magicals in a while, they usually became suspicious of how it could have happened."
She sighs, "And heaven help you if you were a magical who either, one) helped with the pregnancy or birthing process, two) quarreled with the family of the newborn, or three) just happened to live nearby, because if that baby came out with any sort of disability or deformity, nine times out of ten, you were immediately blamed for the baby being that way. The point is, with the better understanding people have nowadays, my family thinks non-magicals and magicals could get along a lot better."
Her mate nods in agreement, "Probably, but the only way the magical world is gonna be revealed is either through collective agreement from the ICW, which I can't see happening, or more likely, through disaster."
She hums, "It actually almost was disastrously revealed at least once. There are probably more instances, but the best documented case happened about one hundred years ago."
Her daughter isn't the only one who gives her a curious look at that, but she's probably the most eager, "Really Mama?"
She gives her daughter a serious look, "Yeah. I can understand that you're curious about everything, but this isn't a light topic, do you understand? It was very serious, and the story behind it was tragic." (1)
Yui's expression changes to match her seriousness, "I understand Mama."
She eyes her for a moment before deciding that Yui is taking it seriously enough, "Good. Back in 1926, in New York, there was a massive disaster caused by an obscurial. An obscurial is a magical child who, generally through abuse but sometimes because of a traumatic incident, comes to completely reject their magic, which grows out of control and dangerous, lashing out at anyone and anything around it. It's also why it's necessary for magicals to learn magic, because if left untrained for too long, their magic begins to become wild and dangerous, even to themselves."
She shakes her head, "The obscurial was a boy by the name of Credence Barebone. He'd been adopted by a woman who absolutely hated magic and abused Credence ruthlessly after she found out he was magical. Mind you, she abused her other two adopted children as well, for seemingly no other reason than because she was a wretched monster through and through, and that's tragic as well, but Credence was the only one of the three that was magical, so she beat him the most trying to force the magic out of him or some other garbage. Unfortunately, Credence was actually a rather powerful magical, so when Credence's magic started manifesting as an Obscurus its attacks were rather devastating."
She pauses to sigh, "I'm glossing over a lot of facts, but the important bits are the involvement of the at the time most dangerous bad guy in the wizarding world, Grindelwald. He was an outright terrorist hell bent on taking over the world because much like V-Mort he thought witches and wizards were inherently superior. Thought it was their right to rule over the non-magicals and 'lesser' magicals, like werewolves and centaurs. Fucker even later worked with the Nazi party to further their mutual goals, presumably so he could eventually turn on them and take over everything they had. Anyway, he'd taken an interest in Credence, drawn in by the fact he was clearly a powerful magical, given how much damage his obscurus was doing. Hoping to lure the poor kid to his side as another ally in his plans to take over both the magical and non-magical worlds presumably."
She shakes her head, "The other major person in that incident was an at the time young man named Newt Scamander. Nowadays he's known as the expert on any magical creature known, and he's discovered dozens that were entirely unknown. In fact, while history says he was initially mocked, ridiculed, and looked down on for his incredible passion for magical creatures, he's long been held in high regard and renown, so much so that the first book he wrote, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a standard textbook in pretty much every magic school in the world. Newer, updated versions come out quite frequently. Anyway, Credence's Obscurus was set off bad by Grindalwald and started tearing through a sizable chunk of New York. It was dealt with, but the event had revealed magic to pretty much all of New York, way too many people to even hope to obliviate or discredit them all."
Yui frowns, "But the magical world is still hidden."
She double checks where they are, then guides them into the large elevator, nodding in agreement with Yui's statement as she inserts her wand into what looks like a broken key hole to allow employees into the basement levels. After a beat the row of basement level buttons begins to glow, and she pushes the bottom basement level button, "Yes. Newt Scamander spent a lot of time studying magical creatures, but a little less known was his tendency to track down illegal creature trading so he could take the creatures back to their natural habitats."
"When it was possible anyway, sometimes it wasn't and he'd end up taking the creatures in and taking care of them on a more permanent basis if it was obvious that they couldn't survive on their own in the wild anymore. Anyway, he'd gone to America to bring a Thunderbird back to Arizona where it belonged. After all that was done though, he had an idea. He'd been studying another creature, called the Swooping Evil by the natives where its from, likely because it's diet is brains, making it so hated that the wild ones were hunted to extinction, though Scamander notoriously protects a small flock of them to this day, feeding them animal brains and refusing to hear what anyone who wants even those last ones gone has to say."
She shakes her head, "But I digress. He'd found that its venom, when diluted properly, erases recent bad memories. He figured the non-magicals would undoubtedly consider so much destruction a bad memory and came up with a plan. The Thunderbird he was bringing back could definitely find its way home now that it was in America, and their species are capable of creating rainstorms, so he gave a vial of Swooping Evil venom to the Thunderbird, so it would be seeded and diffused in the rain clouds."
Her lips twitch faintly, "Apparently it was quite a sight to see. The rain came down and started affecting all of the non-magicals, but because it was rain and continuously coming down and affecting them rather than a quick injection of the diluted venom, eye witness reports from the magicals working say they all just sort of… froze, still alive and standing around but completely unaware of their surroundings."
"The magical government had their people throw some water repelling charms on themselves, then they went out in force to use magic to wipe the memories of those inside and therefore protected from the rain, repair all the damage, and heal any injured they could find so the non-magicals would be none the wiser of what had happened. By the time the venom had ran out and the rain became just regular rain, pretty much everything was good as new, and the non-magicals had forgotten all about not only the most devastating of the obscus' attacks but the recent string of them as well, and since the venom only targets bad memories, they remembered the days themselves, just not the attacks."
She sighs, "The only real downside was that people did die to Credence's Obscurus, and there was nothing that could be done for them, so they had to stage things to explain their deaths. That and the fact that even though Newt Scamander had actually managed to catch Grindelwald, he managed to escape in the confusion during the Obscurus attack. Because of that, he wouldn't be properly stopped and brought down until 1945. The whole incident is covered in pretty much every magical school in history lessons, given how important it was since the magical world was almost outed."
When she returns her attention to her friends and family she finds they all have a mixture of various emotions on their faces as they absorb the contents of the impromptu history lesson. She doesn't say anything, quietly letting them think about it. A few moments later, the elevator dings, drawing her friends from their thoughts. When the doors open, at first glance they appear to be back on the ground floor of the mall.
Argo frowns, "I thought we were going to the magical shopping center?"
She grins at her confused friends and family, "Take a closer look at the shops." Her friends do so, then grow rapidly astonished as they take a second closer look at the shop names and wares, she laughs when they start giving her more confused looks, then nods up at the ceiling, "Don't let those enchanted 'Skylights' fool you, we are absolutely in the basement. Besides, did you really fail to notice that the upstairs mall was only three stories tall compared to the seven here?" That draws snorts and head shakes from her friends. When they return their attention to her she gestures around them, "Welcome to what's often affectionately called The Underground. One of Japan's biggest magical shopping centers."
Yui looks around in excitement, then tilts her head as she looks up at her, "Why's it so big though?"
She shrugs, "The fact that magicals can apparate and therefore distance isn't as big an issue of convenience for them, as well as magicals generally trying to limit the possible magical locations that could be discovered through sheer bad luck means that they tend to only dot a few big shopping centers like this around. While there are quite a few small ones, there are only five big magical shopping centers for the entirety of Japan's four million magicals. So, its sheer volume of customers necessitates its size."
She grins at her gaping friends, "So! Shall we go?"
Yui bounces excitedly from her spot between her parents, "Yes! Let's go! Where to first Mama? Oh! Can we go see the magical animals in that shop? Please Mama?"
She laughs as she guides them to where they need to go, "In a bit, I promise. The main reason we came here today is because Papa needs to get a wand. We'll go right after though, ok?"
Her daughter nods happily, "Ok!" Then she tilts her head, "But, why's it so important to get Papa a wand? I thought you said you didn't need a wand to use magic."
She hums in agreement, "No, you don't need one, but they're helpful for when you're first learning a spell, or for casting particularly difficult spells. They are, after all, called foci for a reason."
Yui nods again as they enter the wand shop, a modest little place called Akemi's Wands. The owner was busy helping a seemingly difficult customer, so Yui turns to her again in curiosity, "How are wands decided? What kinda wand will Papa get?"
Her mate eyes the younger girl who kept waving wands with various outcomes warily, "Both are very good questions."
She indicates the young girl and the wands, "Wands are semi-sentient. They pick their owners depending on compatibility of personality and talent."
Yui gives her an inquiring look, "Compatibility?"
She nods, "There are four important factors to a wand. The Wood, the Core, Length, and Flexibility. Wands tend to be between nine and fourteen inches. Longer wands tend to suit people with larger personalities, and who favor a dramatic style of spell casting. Sometimes you'll see wands shorter or longer than usual, but wands longer than fourteen inches are generally because their owner is particularly tall. On the other hand, shorter wands aren't usually due to lack of height, but tend to indicate a particular lacking in character. Flexibility on the other hand indicates adaptability and willingness to change, by both the wand and owner. Understand?"
To her amusement, it wasn't just Yui and Kazuto who nod, but the rest of their friends as well, all of whom were listening with distinct interest even though none of this applied to them. Shaking her head fondly, she continues, "The Core of a wand tends to be something from a magical creature. Scales, hair, feathers and the like. Around the world various wand makers use all sorts of materials."
"However, after years of watching his father struggle with substandard Core materials Ollivander, one of the best in the world, set out to discover the best materials for wands and only use those. A substantial amount of research and experimentation led him to the conclusion that only three substances consistently produce wands of high quality. Those being Unicorn Hair, Dragon Heartstrings, and Phoenix Feathers. Though you'll still find others creating wands with other Cores, since he published his paper detailing his results they're the most common worldwide."
She pauses briefly to make sure they were still following, then continues, "Unicorn Hair is the most consistent, and is least prone to fluctuations and blockages. They're the most faithful wands, and often remain strongly attached to their original owner for the person's entire life, uncaring if said owner isn't an accomplished witch or wizard. Though Unicorn Hair comes with the disadvantage that they don't usually make the most powerful wands, and if they're seriously mishandled, the Hair can 'die' and need replacing. That said, I doubt your Papa will end up with a Unicorn Hair wand, as they don't take well to Dark magic. While his Demonic blood wouldn't immediately disqualify him since his Angelic blood counters it, he tends to favor Dark magic, making it highly unlikely such a wand would choose him."
Yui thinks over all she'd said over for a moment, then nods in understanding, "And the other two? Dragon Heartstrings and Phoenix Feathers?"
She hums, "Despite being Light creatures, Cores made from Phoenix Feathers don't particularly care about magical orientation. They're the rarest Core type, as they're picky about their owners. Not unsurprising, considering the Phoenix is one of the most independent and detached creatures in the world. Wands with Phoenix Cores are the hardest to tame and personalize, and their allegiance is equally hard won. They are capable of the greatest range of magic, but they're usually slow to reveal this. Finally Phoenix wands show the most initiative, occasionally even acting of their own accord, a quality that many of their owners tend not to like."
Yui frowns, "Phoenix Feather wands don't sound very reliable..." Then she shakes her head, "Anyway, you still haven't told me about Dragon Heartstring wands, Mama."
She smiles at Yui's enthusiasm, "Wands with Dragon Heartstrings are usually the most powerful, and are capable of incredibly flamboyant spells. They tend to learn the quickest, but are also the most prone to accidents, as they're quite temperamental. Their alliance can change if won from their original master, but they always bond strongly with their current owner. Given their fast learning curve, and that they're perfectly fine with Dark magic, I believe Kazuto will likely end up with a Dragon Heartstring wand. If you only take those three cores into account of course, I'm not familiar with other cores, so there may be something more suited to him that I don't know about."
Kazuto frowns, "You said their alliance can change if they're won. Should I be worried?"
She shakes her head, "Not really. In fights or duels it's not uncommon for a magical to be disarmed. That's what I meant when I said if they're won away. Dragon Heartstrings wands will sometimes break their bond with their owner if they're disarmed, though they tend to only do that if they've grown dissatisfied with their current owner. Something you'd be aware of beforehand, as it would become more temperamental and act up more."
Her mate nods his understanding, "What about wand woods?"
Yui bounces, as excited as usual to learn, "Yeah! Tell us about wand woods Mama!"
She sighs, "There are far too many wand woods to go over them all sweetheart, but I'll tell you what, when we get back I'll find my books on the subject and we can read all about them. We can even see if the local shops have any books on the subject."
Yui pouts, "Ok... So you don't have any idea about what you think Papa would have?"
She smiles, "I didn't say that. I would confidently put money on your Papa being well matched to a Cedar or Red Oak wand. So to put it all together, based on what I know of Kazuto, I'd say his wand will likely be Cedar or Red Oak, Dragon Heartstring, slightly longer, but not too long, and very flexible."
Abruptly an unfamiliar voice cut into their conversation, "A rather bold proclamation, and a rather interesting wand."
They turn to find the owner had finished dealing with her other customer at some point, and was watching them in amusement. She grins sheepishly, "Sorry. I hope I didn't offend you as it certainly wasn't my intention, I didn't mean to act like I know better than you do or anything. You're the expert after all. I just read a bit out of curiosity when I got my wand." She gestures to Kazuto, "That and I know my mate very well."
The woman smiles, "Oh, I'm not offended. I don't mind the rare times when someone has an idea of what they need, I only get annoyed or angry when they insist they know better and demand something unsuitable for them. I'm Akemi, as I'm sure you deduced by the sign out front." She tilts her head, "Hmm, by mate, do you perchance mean Soulmate?"
She nods with a smile, which Akemi returns, "Then I suppose congratulations are in order for you two. Not many are lucky enough to find their Soulmates. It does explain why he needs a wand. I finished with my other customers as you were nearing the end of your explanation of Unicorn Hair, and I'll admit to being rather confused as to why someone his age required one if not as a replacement. Though I'm still unsure what you meant by Demonic and Angelic blood. The Nephilim went extinct many millennia ago, the only ones alive now are-"
Abruptly she cuts off and her eyes widen as Marzanna reveals her necklace with her family's crest with a cheeky grin, "Marzanna Sparda, nice to meet you. Well, I suppose by local customs it would be Sparda Marzanna, but I digress." Then her grin turns sheepish again, "Honestly, we should've gotten his wand a while ago, but we've been busy."
Akemi gathers herself, "Understandable. Ever since the SAO incident, demonic activity has increased drastically here in Japan." Then she shakes her head and turns her attention to Kazuto, giving him a thoughtful look, "Cedar, or Red Oak, hmm? Your mate speaks very highly of you."
Kazuto blushes, but before he can respond, Yui leans forward towards Akemi and emphatically pronounces, "Of course Mama does! Papa is amazing!" Then she pauses, "What's so important about Cedar and Red Oak though?"
Akemi gave her a warm smile, "Rather inquisitive, aren't you? Who might you be, little one?"
She answers for her as she smiles lovingly at Yui, "This is Yui. It's a bit complicated, but basically she's our adopted daughter."
Akemi nods, "I see. Well, to answer your question, Cedar and Red Oak aren't any more important than other wand woods, but they do speak highly, especially if both apply to a person. Cedar favors those with strength of character and exceptional loyalty. I've actually read Ollivander's papers as well, and in it he mentions that his father used to always say 'You will never fool a Cedar carrier', and both Ollivander and I agree. Cedar wands find perfect homes with those who are perceptive and readily insightful. I would go further though, and say that I've never met a Cedar owner I'd dare cross, especially if harm is done to those they love. The magical well matched with a Cedar has the potential to be a frightening adversary, often shocking those who thoughtlessly challenge them." (2)
Yui nods firmly, "That sounds like Papa. What about Red Oak? Will you tell me about it? Please?"
At her proclamation, Kazuto's blush, which hadn't quite managed to fade from earlier, darkens and spreads. Akemi glances at him and her lips twitch in amusement before she refocuses on Yui, "I've never been one to say no to an inquisitive child, especially one that asks so nicely. The ignorant often believe those who possess a wand of Red Oak, also possess a terrible temper, but it's completely untrue. The true match for Red Oak possesses unusually fast reactions. To again go back to what Ollivander has to say of it, he remarks that he found that the ideal owner for Red Oak is light of touch, quick-witted, and adaptable, often the creator of distinctive, trademark spells, and a great person to have beside you in a fight."
By now Kazuto looks like he is making a serious attempt to put a tomato to shame, and Akemi finally seems to lose the fight with her smile, while Yui giggles. She grins at her daughter, "Now you see why I'm fairly certain his wand will be Cedar or Red Oak."
Yui nods, but then Marzanna pauses thoughtfully, "Of course, this is pure speculation on my part. It's entirely possible that Kazuto will end up with something else entirely."
Akemi shrugs as she pushes away from the counter she'd been leaning on while talking to them and and pulls a metallic cart over to the shelves of boxes, "Perhaps, but if both his mate and daughter agree that those both would suit him, at least from brief descriptions, then it gives me somewhere to start. For one thing, if he favors Dark magic, then it tells me to stay away from Unicorn Hair or any other core that wouldn't react well. It also narrows it down by giving me an idea of what wand woods likely won't suit him."
Yui stands on her tip toes to watch as Akemi pulls boxes from the shelves and loads them onto the cart, "Like what?"
The wand maker glances over to shoot Yui a smile, "Like Apple wood, which also doesn't like Dark magic, or any other wood like it. Furthermore, if your mother is right about the Dragon Heartstring, I doubt very seriously that a chestnut wand would suit him, as such a pairing tends to favor individuals who are overly fond of luxury and material things, and not particularly scrupulous on how they obtain it. And just from your mom's initial suggestion, the fact he's a Soulmate of one of the notoriously generous Sparda's, and just the look of him and the feel of his magic, I very seriously doubt it would suit him."
Yui frowns, "That definitely wouldn't suit Papa. He's pretty generous too and definitely cares about how he gets his stuff." Then she glances at her blushing dad thoughtfully, "Though he can be pretty prideful about independence. He didn't even like the idea of getting an allowance from Obaa-san."
Akemi nods, "That isn't very surprising from what your mother said." Then she pauses, as she contemplates, "What do you think of Cypress?"
She huffs, "Unfortunately, yes."
Yui gives her a confused look, but before she can ask Akemi calls back again, "Elm?"
She snorts a laugh, "No, I don't think he's dignified enough to satisfy an Elm wand."
That draws laughter from not only Akemi but her friends and daughter as well, "What about Fir."
She pauses briefly then shakes her head, "He's definitely a survivor and certainly stubborn at times, but Fir doesn't like a changeable owner, he's too adaptable for it."
"How about Hawthorn?"
She smiles faintly, "I'm going to assume your shelves are alphabetical by wand wood? But no, he doesn't have a particularly conflicted nature."
Akemi smiles, "Yes they are, actually. Laurel?"
She actually barks a laugh at that, "The wand wood intolerant of laziness for my sleepy head? Hard pass."
That causes more laughter, "Maple?"
She shrugs, "Sure. He definitely likes to explore, even if it's more the VR worlds than the real world."
Akemi squints at her friends, then shakes her head, "Despite the independence you daughter mentioned I suppose Pine is out."
She shakes her head, "Not really. He was kind of a loner when I met him." She jerks her thumb towards their friends, "These guys are just stubborn."
Akemi nods with a smile, "Poplar?"
She hesitates, "Possible certainly."
Akemi glances at her, "But you don't think so?"
She shrugs, "There's nothing about the qualities it favors that really don't match him."
Akemi nods, "But it doesn't quite feel right. How about Redwood?"
She squints, "In general, yes, but I'm not sure he's lucky enough for a Redwood's liking."
Akemi hums, "How about Spruce?"
She shakes her head, "While he can certainly be bold and reckless when it suits him, he's also equally capable of caution which to my knowledge Spruce dislikes as much as its more commonly known distaste for nervousness."
"Walnut?"
She nods, "He's certainly smart."
Akemi hums, "Willow?"
Her lips twitch, "While he certainly has unfounded insecurities, he's not much suited to healing magic."
Yui frowns lightly, "That can't be all the wand woods in your shop."
Akemi nods, gives one last sweeping look of the shelves, then pulls her cart over to the counter, and puts the neatly separated stacks of boxes on the counter, "Not at all, but as I said before, just knowing that his magical Core leans towards Dark magic and the fact that you two suggested Cedar and Red Oak narrows it down. It was narrowed further with each question and answer."
Yui nods her understanding, then turns her curious attention to the boxes on the counter. The groupings of stacks seem random, but once Akemi begins the process of handing Kazuto wands to try and within a few removes the entire group back onto her cart, she assumes each group is a different wand wood. It only takes about twenty minutes before Kazuto's breath hitches the moment he grabs a particular wand. Sure enough, when he waves it, black and red sparks cascade out.
Akemi shakes her head in amusement, "Well, I grabbed all these other kinds of wands because they were compatible with what your mate said, but apparently I should've just listened to her from the get go." Kazuto drags his look of amazement from his new wand to look at her inquisitively, causing Akemi to smile, "That wand is Cedar, Dragon Heartstring, 11 ½ inches, Surprisingly Bendy. Going right along with what she said she expected." Then she turns to Yui, "What about this curious little lady? Will she be getting her first wand today as well?"
She shares a startled look with her mate. Even though her body was technically a magical construct, they hadn't thought she'd be able to use magic. And Akemi being a wand maker, and therefore someone who exceeds in sensing magic and it's flow for the purposes of properly creating wands, pairing them with their correct owner, and being sure the core was stable enough to begin training, would certainly be able to sense the difference between Yui's body simply having a high concentration of magic because of is artificial nature and her actually being able to use it.
Upon turning back to Akemi and seeing her raised eyebrows, likely at their surprise, she smiles and tries to cover their tracks, "Ah, we've been so busy and focusing on getting my mate his wand that it completely slipped our minds that she'd be a good age to start practicing."
Not entirely true of course, and Yui's age was… more complicated than even their friends tend to realize given the conflict between being only 2-3 years old and her accelerated learning as an AI, but if Akemi thought she not only had a magical core but that it was stable enough, then she wasn't going to question it.
Yui turns to give them an excited pleading look, "Oh, can I?! Mama, Papa, please?"
She shares another look with her mate, this one more fond, amused, and indulgent. Then she turns back to her daughter, "Sure, sweetheart."
Yui quite literally jumps up and down with joy, and Akemi laughs, "Well, in that case, why don't we ask your mom what she thinks, since she was spot on with your dad." She winks at Yui, "Let's see if she can go two for two."
Yui looks up at her with a smile. She smiles back and hums, "Hmm, Maple or Pear. Not Sycamore though, even if it's similar. She's too content with mundane life for it. Despite the fact that both of us," She gestures between herself and her mate, "have Dragon Heartstring wands, I think the loyalty of Unicorn Hair suits her better, especially since I'm pretty sure she leans more towards Light magic. Probably somewhere in the medium range of length, since she's as equally drawn to neat precision as she is to flashier dramatics. The upper range of flexibility, since she's very adaptable and willing to change."
She shares an amused grin with her mate over the last one. As an AI that last one was basically in their daughter's very nature.
Akemi hums in understanding, then wanders off to grab a small selection of boxes, then brings them back. It takes only a few minutes to go through them. She feels more than a little bit of pride when one of them properly bonds to her daughter and Akemi announces with an amused smile, "Pear, Unicorn Hair, 10 inches, Surprisingly Bendy."
Yui may be well behaved, but she was so eager and excited that she thought it'd be a bit of a struggle to pick out a wand holster for her mate and get everything squared away. However, she's so fascinated with her new wand that the only hitch is getting her attention so she can pick out her own holster.
Once it's all paid for, her daughter coerced to put her wand in her holster, and they've thanked Akemk and left, she smiles at her daughter, mate, and their friends, "Well, now that we've gotten that done, ready to explore a magical shopping center?"
She can't help but laugh at her family and friends' enthusiastic responses.
December 5th, 2025
She runs down the stairs excitedly, her mate and daughter both hot on her heels. Her daughter takes a few more jerky steps past her and her mate stumbles into her back as they come to an abrupt stop in the living room where her family is lounging around while they wait the half hour or so before dinner will be done, even Kyrie is curled up with Nero just waiting on the timer to tell her to pull it out of the oven. Attention turns to them at their quick entrance, and amused glances are shared.
She grins, "Mom! Can you help us test what we've been working on? It would be a lot easier if you apparate."
Her mom sets her book down, "Certainly, what exactly do you want me to do?"
She shares a glance with the other two, then turns back to him, "Can you apparate, uh, well the last one worked for about five hundred feet, and this one is supposed to be a lot better, so…"
She trails off briefly, trying to figure out a good starting distance, before her uncle chimes in, "If you're testing something to do with distance and you believe this version of… whatever you're working on to be significantly better, then perhaps it would be best to start by doubling your previous result of five hundred feet as a starting point?"
She nods, "Yeah, that will definitely work, then after that, have mom perform jumps of a thousand feet until it stops working? Then maybe have her jump back five hundred feet and walk back towards the house or further away depending on the result we get there to narrow in on the exact range?"
Her mom nods in agreement, so she sets the airtight container holding the crystal cluster on the coffee table and glances at her mate who is fiddling with his phone, "Just need to remove Lily from the ignore list… And we're good to go!"
She sits down next to the crystal cluster to keep an eye on it and pulls her phone out, and calls her mom, "Alright, just jump every fifteen seconds and we'll tell you when you need to start coming back."
Her mom nods, then places an invisibility spell on herself so she isn't seen, then pops away. Her mate sits down next to her and their daughter sits on his other side and sets his laptop in front of him since he's in the middle, then they all split their attention between his phone, laptop, and the cluster. Checking both the range and that the data is being sent from the server to the app smoothly, as well as keeping an eye on the cluster's stability. She's aware of her family giving each other bemused looks and she's sure that her mate and daughter are as well, but they all keep their attention on their experiment.
It isn't too long before she's speaking into her phone again, "And that's it. Jump back five hundred feet?" She pauses briefly to watch the computer and phone before speaking again, "Last bit now, just walk back towards where you just jumped from. It's at most a block and a half. Ish."
There's another longer pause before she speaks to her mom again, "Ok, we got it, you can come back now."
The call ends at about the same time that her mom's return is announced with a pop. It's only a few more seconds before she becomes visible, giving them a bemused look, "So, mind telling me what that was for?"
She shares a look with her mate, "It isn't done yet…"
He shakes his head, "But we do have a pretty good prototype, and they probably could help. It didn't matter as much when we weren't even sure if we could get it to work, but even if it isn't finished it's working pretty well, and it is pretty important."
She frowns, "It's true that we've managed to boost the range from five feet to five hundred feet to," She double checks the computer, "about two point one miles, but that's still almost nothing."
Her mate opens his mouth, but before he can answer, Nero cuts in, "This the project you were talking about the other day, the one you were doing to prove you were, what was it, 'contributing adults who don't need to rely on older folks'? Or that you two weren't just kids who needed their hands held? Something like that anyway."
Despite how some might take her cousin's words, his tone was nothing but curious, without even a hint of the mockery someone who didn't know him might expect such wording to carry. She also isn't surprised that no one in her family bats an eye at this, they were a pretty communication heavy family, so she'd pretty much expected that he'd talked to them about it later.
She shares another look with her mate, "Yeah. Yui got involved because she wanted to help and we didn't mind because…"
She trails off, but her pseudo older brother finishes for her with a gentle smile, "Because she's your kid and even younger than you are so it wouldn't interfere with you two's need to prove yourselves?"
She nods, a little sheepishly. Her dad enters the conversation at that point, "Well, even if whatever you're working on isn't finished and even though I don't know what it is, I still know you've achieved something pretty impressive. Especially since I may not be good at math, but Google is, and it also knows how to convert miles into feet. It tells me that the increase from your starting point of five feet to two point one miles is an increase of 221,660 percent. Even without context, that's impressive."
She shares another look with her mate, then nods and reaches for the computer, turning it towards her family, "It's a Demon Detector."
That immediately has her family riveted with wide eyes flickering between the three of them, the crystal cluster, and the computer displaying a map showing where her mother had been recently in the center of all the data on the digital side of the project that only her mate and daughter understand.
Knowing she absolutely has their attention, she continues, "It's why we've been experimenting with Industria Effusio Crystals, and why we unintentionally melted some the other day. We're using the way they react to a similar form of energy once they've been tuned so that they'll react to demonic energy. As you know though, they generally only have a range of about five feet. We've been looking into increasing the range using runes, which is why that incident the other day happened. We pushed the runes too hard and they overloaded and melted the crystal into vapor."
She taps the airtight container, "So we thought we'd try linking a cluster of crystals together to have them work in tandem via the runic script. It's been working pretty well, especially since the crystals' energy capacity increases with the size of the crystal on a magnitude scale rather than a linear scale. The range is still fairly limited, as you saw, but from there," She picks up the airtight case to point out the black base holding the crystal cluster as she talks, "The runic script is written to send the data into this receiver Kazuto made."
Her mate picks up the explanation from there, gesturing to the data on his laptop, "It transmits it to a server, which separates and logs each individual energy signature, then compiles the information," He holds up his phone so they can see the screen, "Which is then easily accessible from this app Yui and I made, not only displaying location, but also other relevant information, like whether or not it's a Great Demon based power of the signature. We're also working on teaching it to tell what kind of Demon it is from the differences in the energy signature, so anyone using it would have a better idea of what they're getting into, but since it hasn't really been exposed to too many demonic signatures…"
He shakes his head, then shrugs a little sheepishly, "Well, it seems to be really good at recognizing Devils but it still doesn't really know what to make of anything else it picked up on while we've been working on it. Other than 'Demon' and 'it's this powerful' anyway."
She sighs, "Based on the data we just got…"
She trails off and glances at Yui, who frowns, "We'd still need each crystal in the cluster to be the size of a car to fully cover a large city."
She nods, "So the script still needs to be reworked to make it more realistically doable."
Immediately her grandparents, mom, and uncle lean forward eagerly, though it's her grandmother who speaks, "What's the runic script you're using?"
She turns the computer towards herself for a moment as she tabs over to the correct program, then turns it back towards her family, "The current version is here on the left." The entire left side of the screen she gestured to was taken up by two different things, a 3D image of each of the crystals slowly rotating took up the upper half, while the script itself was written out on the bottom, "The right hand side has sort of preview images of past versions, which can be clicked on to expand them out to be the same as the current version. In any version, the script is repeated on each crystal since they're meant to work in tandem towards the same goal rather than each carrying out their own task."
There's a few beats of silence as they study the image before her uncle points to a section, "This section is a little sloppy, but that's only due to inexperience, if you clean it up, that alone might as much as double your range." Then he gets up and makes his way over to sit in front of the laptop, "Here, I'll show you what I mean. How do I-?"
She scoots around the table a bit to be able to see what he's doing as she reaches for the laptop, quickly opening the drop down menu and telling it to archive the current version. It immediately sends a duplicate of itself over to the right side of the screen, then moves the 3D image up a little and the script down a little to make room for a box containing a displayed runic alphabet, at the top of which was a drop down menu to change which alphabet is being used. The script gains the blinking vertical line used to indicate where one is typing at the end.
Vergil immediately uses the wireless mouse they'd brought down with the laptop to shift where he's typing to where he was pointing at earlier and begins reworking it. Yui, peaking around the other side, immediately makes an understanding noise. It isn't long though before her grandma, who had gotten up and was hovering behind Vergil along with grandpa and mom, makes a disagreeing noise, "That means 'sense', using 'detect' would be better."
Her mom leans forward to point at something, "Also-"
She's still listening carefully, but she can't help glancing towards her mate. He's not paying attention, apparently content to leave the portion of the magic he's largely unfamiliar with in the highly experienced hands currently molding it. Actually, from the particular look of concentration on his face as well as the way he was typing on his phone he was using it for programming work while his laptop was being used by her family.
Seemingly to notice her attention despite how focused he was, he looks up at her and smiles warmly. The project was pretty much in her family's capable hands from the moment she and Kazuto had shown that they'd made the abandoned idea of her mom and uncle into something viable, but that was alright. They'd already proven their capability when they'd breathed life into something her more experienced family had dismissed. Not to mention they still had the teleport gate idea. It had been slowly making progress whenever they'd found a work groove but needed a break from the detector, but it was still nowhere near done.
She returns his smile and then they pretty much simultaneously turn away. Him back to whatever he was working on and her to get lessons on runes along with Yui of the sort of knowledge that can only be learned and passed down through experience rather than pure book studies.
December 7th, 2025
Kazuto doesnt even get a chance to look around after entering the restaurant before Kikuoka shouts and waves at him with a big dumb fake, smile, drawing stares from the other patrons of the nice quiet restaurant, "Hey, Kirito-kun! Over here!" He ducks his head in embarrassment and hurries over. As soon as he sits, Kikuoka gestures to the menu cheerfully, "I'll pay, so order whatever you want."
He nods, "I'll do that, then. Thank you very much."
Kikuoka shakes his head, "Oh, don't be so formal… Just talk to me like you would in ALO."
He gives him an unsure glance, "S-sure…" Then he picks up and opens the menu, "I'll have…" He trails off briefly to study the menu with intensity before turning to the waiter, "Um… I'll have the parfait au chocolat, the framboise mille-feuille, and a hazelnut latte."
Once he's done ordering, Kikuoka continues, "Sorry to bring you all the way here, Kirito-kun."
He gives him an exasperated look, "If you're really sorry, don't bring me all the way to Ginza…" Then with irritation "And don't call me that IRL in front of others!"
Kikuoka tilts his head, "Hm? You're so cold… After you woke up in the hospital a year ago, I was the first to visit you."
Kazuto sighs, "Well, what else do you need? I told you pretty much everything there was to know about SAO…"
Kikuoka snaps his menu closed, "I want to discuss something else today." Then he ruffles around in his bag before pulling out a black tablet and passing it over, "Look at this."
He glances at the tablet displaying the information and picture of a young plain looking man he doesn't recognize before passing it back, "Who's this?"
Kikuoka hums briefly, "Last month, on November 14th… The landlord of a Nakano, Tokyo apartment smelled something while cleaning. She got worried and opened the electronic lock on the door, and discovered the body of this man, Shigemura Tamotsu, age 26. He'd been dead five and a half days." He swipes down on the tablet, clearly looking over the information again, "His room was messy, but hadn't been ransacked. The body was on the bed. And on its head…"
He narrows his eyes a little, "An AmuSphere?"
Kikuoka nods, "Exactly. Given the possibility of foul play, an autopsy was held. The cause of death was acute heart failure."
His expression turns to confusion, "Heart failure? His heart just stopped? Why?"
Kikuoka shrugs, "We don't know."
The conversation is paused by the waiter coming back. He places his order in front of him, then takes Kikuoka's empty plate before leaving.
Kikuoka sighs, "Given the time of death, and the low probably of a crime, a thorough autopsy was not conducted. But he'd been logged in for two full days without eating anything."
He drops his gaze to his food, "That isn't so unusual." Then he looks back up at Kikuoka, "What's so special about this case?"
Kikuoka hardly lets him finish, "The game he had installed was Gun Gale Online. Do you know it?"
Kazuto answers without hesitation, "Sure… It's the only game in Japan with pro players. Plus Marzanna and her cousin play it, so I've heard a bit from them."
He gets an understanding nod before his companion continues, "He had won a tournament in Gun Gale Online, GGO for short, that was held in October to determine the strongest player. His character name was Zexceed."
He narrows his eyes slightly, "Then he was playing GGO when he died?"
Kikuoka shakes his head, "No, he was appearing on a program called MMO stream, as his Zexceed avatar. We know the time from the logs. And this hasn't been confirmed, but another user wrote on their blog that something strange happened in GGO at the same time as his heart attack."
Kazuto, despite having food in his mouth, can't help but take the bait, "Strange?"
Kikuoka nods, "At the exact same time this was happening, a player was acting strangely in a bar. He screamed something about 'judgement' at the TV Zexceed was appearing on, and fired his gun. One of the players watching this happened to have an audio log running, and uploaded the file to a video site. The file contains a clock in Japan Standard Time. The shot was fired at the TV at almost the same time Shigemura disappeared from the program."
He isn't convinced, slipping his eyes closed and enjoying his food, "That's just a coincidence."
But his companion throws him a curveball, "There was another one."
He jolts and his eyes fly open in shock, "What?!"
Another nod, "This one happened on November 28th. Somewhere in Saitama city, Saitama. Another body found in a room, in a two-story apartment. A newspaper salesman looked inside and saw a man, lying on a futon, wearing an AmuSphere… Another horrible smell."
Loud pointed coughing from the ladies at the next table over cuts into the conversation, but Kikuoka continues without even glancing at them, "Well, skipping the particulars of the corpse… Another acute heart failure. He was also a highly skilled GGO player. His character name was… Lightly Salted Tarako? He was playing the game at the time. He was at a meeting with his squadron… I guess that's what they call a guild… in a Glocken City plaza, when he was shot by another player."
He frowns, "Was it the same guy as Zexceed?"
Another nod, "Probably. He said the same things about power and judgment, and used the same character name."
He leans forward slightly, "What was it?"
Kikuoka looks down at his tablet and says in English, "Death Gun."
A sudden chill sweeps down his spine for unknown reasons as his stomach sinks, "Death… Gun?" Then he sets his empty coffee cup down, "You're sure it was heart failure, right?"
A look of curiosity, "What do you mean?"
He narrows his eyes in irritation, "There wasn't any damage to their brains?"
Kikuoka tilts his head in understanding, "I wondered that as well. I spoke to the coroner who handled the autopsies, and they said there was nothing wrong with their brains. And what's more, the NerveGear used microwaves powerful enough to burn out the signaling devices and destroy part of the brain. But the AmuSphere is designed for that kind of power emission to be impossible. The developers were insistent on that."
He leans back in his chair, "You've done a lot of homework, Kikuoka-san… All this for something that seems like nothing more than coincidence and rumor?"
Kikuoka frowns, "Well, I'm ninety percent sure it's coincidence, or someone's making it up. So we're speaking hypothetically here. Do you think it's possible to stop a player's heart with a bullet fired from within a video game?"
Kazuto shakes his head, "I don't think so, but assuming this Death Gun could send some kind of signal to Zexceed's and Lightly Salted Tarako's AmuSpheres… Some sensation of touch that would affect their hearts… or taste, smell, sight, or sound… Some kind of sensory information…"
He suddenly notices that Kikuoka has leaned his face into one of his hands and is faintly grinning, and snaps at him, "Hey, wait. You've already looked into all of this, haven't you? If you smart-asses have thought this through, there shouldn't be much left for me to do."
Kikuoka sits up straight quickly at that and starts waving his hands in front of himself, "No, no… I'd never do that to you, Kirito-kun. I enjoy talking to you."
Kazuto plants his hand on the table and stands, "I'm done. Here's my conclusion. Stopping a player's heart from within a game is impossible!" He pushes his chair out and begins to walk away, "The gun shots and heart failures are unrelated-"
Kikuoka cuts him off, "W-Wait! You can order another slice of cake." He stops at the temptation of good food, "Just stay for a while!" When he looks back, Kikuoka calms down a little, "Well, I'm relieved to hear you say that aloud… I was thinking the same thing. These two deaths weren't caused by gunshots from within the game. So I'd like to ask you… Will you log into Gun Gale Online and make contact with this Death Gun?"
He frowns, "Why not just say it, Kikuoka-san? 'Go get shot!' is what you actually mean, isn't it?"
Kikuoka rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "Well…"
He turns angrily, "No way in hell! What if something happened to me?!"
He turns to leave again, but Kikuoka quickly lunges to grab the back of his coat, "We both just agreed that was impossible! And it looks like Mr Death Gun has pretty strict criteria for his targets."
Unable to help himself, he looks over his shoulder, "Criteria?"
They stare each other down for a moment, then he sighs and turns back. Kikuoka opens his mouth but he shuts him up with a look as he flags down the waiter and orders more cake and coffee.
It's only once it's in front of him that he allows Kikuoka to continue, "Yes. Zexceed and Lightly Salted Tarako were both renowned top-level players. In other words, he won't shoot you unless you're good. Probably. Kayaba-sensei recognized you as the strongest player-"
Kazuto cuts him off sharply, "That's impossible! GGO isn't that easy a game! It's filled with pros."
Kikuoka points at him, "That's it. What does it mean to be a pro?"
Kazuto sighs in exasperation, "Just what it sounds like. Gun Gale Online is the only VRMMO that lets you exchange game coins for real money."
Kikuoka lowers his arm, "Oh?"
Kazuto picks up his fork and cuts a piece of his cake off, "Basically, you can take the money you earn in-game and exchange it for real cash. The pros are the ones who can earn money in GGO every single month. A top player can make anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 yen a month. For that reason, the high-level GGO players spend far more time and passion on their game than any other MMO players. I can't just log in and expect to match them. Find someone else."
Kikuoka quickly holds his hands out, "Wait, wait… I don't have anyone else! I only have you and Marzanna-chan, and I've been expressly forbidden from asking her for the time being by a superior in the know since the Sparda's are busy dealing with the increase in activity lately! I tried explaining that she unwinds with VRMMO and would even probably be joining the upcoming tournament I want you to take part in since she participated in the last one, but they won't allow it. You're literally the only other person I can turn to! I can pay you to cooperate with the investigation if it helps." Then he holds up three fingers, "This much."
Kazuto swallows hard, "Why is this such a big deal to you? It's just another internet horror story."
Kikuoka frowns, "You see, my bosses are worried about this. The effects of full-dive technology on the human body are the single biggest focus of research right now. I want to know what's really going on before they start trying to use this to restrict the technology. I want to be sure. How's that for a reason?"
He leans back, "Wouldn't it be faster to ask the administrators?"
Kikuoka shakes his head, "Zaskar, the company that develops and operates GGO, has its servers in America. The real company's address, phone number, and email are all confidential. Since The Seed went public, all kinds of shady virtual worlds have popped up. Which means the only way to get at the truth is to make contact with Death Gun within the game. Of course, we'll take every safety precaution. And I won't tell you to get shot. Just tell me your impressions, and give me your judgment. Will you go?"
He gazes at his empty plate and cup for a while, then sighs, "Alright, alright! I'll help. You do know that even if they weren't originally going to make time for it, which I don't actually know one way or another since she hasn't mentioned it, that she and her cousin will insist on backing me up though?"
He nods, "Honestly, I'm hoping they do, if this Death Gun really has found a way to harm people from inside the game we need to know, and know how he's doing it and put a stop to it. But I still can't go against direct orders. So."
He sighs heavily, "You said something about a tournament?"
Kikuoka nods, "Mm. Bullet of Bullets, open to all players and meant to be a way of proving which players are strongest. The second was the one Zexceed won. The third starts on the 13th, which is also when registration ends. If Death Gun is really aiming for the best players, they couldn't possibly miss this opportunity."
(1): I've only seen the first Fantastic Beasts movie, so that's the only information I have to go off of for this story.
(2): This was taken from pottermore because I didn't feel like screwing with a thesaurus and the wording over and over until I had something different that said the same thing.