My name Is Suguha. I live with my Mother and Brother Kazuto. I am twelve years old and for reasons I don't quite understand Krito has been acting odd lately.
We used to have fun sparing in the dojo, When grandfather wasn't pushing us, harder than we could handle sometimes.
Now he seems to be lost in that game he has been beta testing. I don't know much about the game he is playing but he is often gone for hours and I can't put in words how much it hurts that he isn't spending time with me anymore.
I know that the game he is playing will be released soon and in a desperate attempt to get my brother back I decided to try talking to him when he came off the game.
I snuck into his bedroom, normally I would ask to enter but I know that he is busy in the game and cannot respond to me. For a long time I sat on his bed watching him game.
He looked really peaceful playing the game and I wondered just what he was doing. Realising I didn't know much about the game I decided to look online while I waited.
The more I read the more I found myself intrigued by the game he was playing. It seemed like a really ambitious project. The world had 100 floors the players would need to conquer.
The device used to play the game was some really impressive tech too. Somehow it manages to intercept all thoughts and actions.
It was sometime later in the night when I was awoken by Kazuto placing his Nervegear on his computer table. He was looking at me as he did. He didn't look annoyed but he didn't look happy to see me waking up in his bed.
"I'm sorry, Kazuto, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just wanted to talk to you. You've been so distant lately and I don't know what I did to upset you."
I didn't know how Kazuto would respond to me telling him how I was feeling. He was looking at me with a sad expression on his face, but I didn't know exactly why.
After a few moments he sat next to me and apologised.
"I am sorry Sugu. I didn't want to upset you, I just didn't know how to handle some information I found out."
His response had me very curious. I had no idea what information he was referring to. It didn't look like he was going to tell me without me prodding either.
"It must have been bad because you've been avoiding me. I know you didn't like the way grandfather taught us kendo but I enjoyed doing it with you. We don't do anything together anymore."
I didn't mean to start crying and had no idea when I had started. I could see that it was making Kazuto uncomfortable but I couldn't stop.
After a short while he pulled me close to him and gave me a one armed hug. It felt like ages since he had last hugged me and it filled me with warmth and comfort.
Not wanting him to let me go I scooted closer to him and laid my head on his shoulder. We didn't speak much more that night and when I woke up Kazuto was still holding me, though he was asleep.
Not wanting to have an awkward conversation when he woke up I slipped out of his grasp and started making breakfast for us both. Mother always left for work early so I often cooked breakfast.
The smell of food cooking seemed to wake Kazuto. He came out with my phone in his hand. I was surprised to see he was looking at the webpage I had opened last.
"Sorry I wasn't intending to look. I thought it was my phone when I first woke up."
I couldn't help but laugh at him. He gave me a playful pout and placed my phone on the table. He was watching me cook and I felt slightly self conscious.
When I sat down he slid my phone towards me. He had a look on his face like he was trying to work something out.
"Are you interested in Sword Art Online after looking into it?"
His question surprised me and I nodded my head in response, picking up the phone and opening the browser to look at the website again.
"You spend so much time playing it. I feel like I lost you to it."
He gave me a sad smile and I could see that what I said was true. I had lost him to the game. I could see he loved it. He tried to apologise but I cut him off.
"Why did you ask Kazuto?"
"The Beta is over now and the game will be released soon. If you want I will get two copies and I can show you why I love it so much. It would give us something to do together?"
I rubbed my ears not quite believing he had asked me to join him in the game. I knew next to him I would be useless. Would he really be okay having someone like me?
"I probably wouldn't be any good. I don't even have a nervegear."
I said, trying to make excuses and give him a chance to leave me behind. He seemed to find my answer funny and started laughing.
"I could teach you everything you need to know. I have some money saved up so I could help… Mother buy you one."
The way he said Mother confused me I could tell he had hesitated. I decided to question it later and decided to check my funds. I had some money in there I had been saving.
I didn't know what it was I had been saving up for but this seemed a good enough thing to buy.
"I have some money saved up too. If it isn't too expensive I can get it."
Mother was quite put out when I told her I was going to be doing less Kendo so I could play games with Kazuto. We decided not to tell grandfather right away.
A week later I sat in the Living room waiting fr Kazuto to return. He had spent the last three days camping out in order to get a copy of the game for me, he had been given a copy free for playing in the beta.
When he returned he had a brand new Nervegear and a copy of the most sought out game in the world currently.
Seeing him with the game I jumped into his arms hugging him happily and taking the boxed Nervegear off him. I quickly ran to my room with him walking after me.
Just setting up the Nervegear had been a lot of fun. I was really excited to join Kazuto in the world he fell in love with in the beta.
Before I booted up the game Kazuto told me to meet him in the spawn area. His name would be Kirito. I thought it was an odd name but I laughed and told him I wanted to be called Suguha.
He laughed as I said this and told me that I shouldn't use my real name in the game. I wondered why for a moment and had to think long and hard for a new name.
Seeing a Terrarium Kazuto had given me for my birthday I decided to call myself Leafa. To be honest I couldn't understand why I picked it but I liked it well enough. I quickly told Kazuto my name so he knew who to look for.
I didn't know what to expect when the game finally started. I spent a very long amount of time creating my new avatar to look how I wanted her. She looked similar to me in the real world but with some differences.
When I finally finished I was shown a quick tutorial on how to use the in game menus. I was also told to pick a starting weapon. I had no idea what weapon I should pick. In the end I decided that a sword would be best since I had practised Kendo a lot in the real world, maybe I would have an advantage.
Kazuto was wearing a full black outfit and had a sword sitting on his back, whereas mine was on my hip. It was strange to see my brother and not recognise him right away.
"Finally Sugu" He said before clasping his hand over his mouth and looking around. No one seemed to have realised his blunder, they were all caught up starting the game.
"Sorry I got caught up in the character creation screen. The tutorial was a little long too."
He smiled at me and grabbed my hand. Before I knew what was happening I was being dragged through the city and out towards the fields.
"Ka… Kirito, where are you dragging me?"
He seemed to realise he had not informed me of what we were doing and came to a halt letting me go.
"I'm going to teach you how to play the game. The fighting is addicting. I want to get us out there before the other players take all the good spots."
I smiled happily. My brother's excitement was intoxicating and I couldn't help but want to do as he wanted. We headed out of a large stone gate house. It looked like mediaeval english.
Beyond the gate was a vast green lush field. It was filled with boars that were quite big but there were lots of them so I could only assume they were a common monster.
For the next hour Kazuto showed me all the things I would need to know. He was dead right about combat. It was extremely addictive.
While he taught me to play a man named Klein saw him teaching me and all but begged to be taught too. After introducing himself and trying to add me as a friend.
Apparently he was 22, Single and had run a guild in another game. When he told me this Kazuto hit him in the gut. In response to the gut punch he started rolling around on the ground even though he couldn't feel pain.
Kazuto found this hilarious and reminded him he couldn't feel pain. I swiftly told Klein I was too young for him and he should look elsewhere. Upon hearing this Klein had laughed and apologised.
That was when things started going south. I was busy killing boars just for the enjoyment of killing them while Kazuto gave Klein some more pointers.
"Hey Kirito, my logout button is missing." Ii overheard Klein say. I couldn't help but laugh thinking he was joking. But when I looked closer I could see he was worried and was clicking the space in the menu logout should have been.
I quickly opened my menu and saw to my horror my logout was missing too. I could see Kazuto panic now he knew I couldn't log out either. He quickly checked his own and saw the same results.
After trying and failing to contact a game master we decided to check again later, Kazuto trying and failing to reassure me it must have been a bug.
Trying to distract ourselves from the shock of not being able to log out we decided to head back to the city. It was at this time Kazuto and Klein disappeared, I didn't realise right away that I too had moved.
That soon changed as the area around me filled with hundreds, no, thousands of players. I tried looking around for Kazuto and was happy to see him close to me. I headed over to him and hugged him, taking comfort from his presence.
The speech that followed made me more scared than I had ever been in my life. A game where if you died you died for real. I didn't want to believe it but Kazuto was convinced that the speaker had not been lying.
Before I could really take in what I had been told Kazuto was dragging me and Klein out of the area. I was only half listening as he told me why we needed to leave. I was still struggling to comprehend what I had been told.
I was so caught up in my fear I didn't realise Klein was refusing to leave without his friends. Kazuto was looking conflicted and I realised I needed to pay attention.
Klein had seemingly made up his and Kazuto's mind and bid goodbye to us, sending us on our way. Before he left he told us not to die.
Kazuto once more grabbed my hand and started running out of the town. Knowing he had beta tested the game I put my trust in him and started running with him.
We started killing all the mobs as we passed them trying to level up so we could survive in this world. Looking around an hour later no other players could be seen and Kazuto had led me to a village on the far side of this floor.
Here he made me accept some quests of the NPC's and together we cleared as many as we could before nightfall so we could afford a bedroom at the inn and supplies we would need to survive.
Despite knowing I could not leave this world on my own I felt oddly calm being with Kazuto. I knew he would protect me and I wanted to strive to protect him too.
We decided that night to share a single inn room. I didn't want to be alone and Kazuto wanted to keep me close "to protect me"
The gentleman he was, he had tried to sleep on the floor but I insisted he join me on the bed and snuggled close to him once he joined me.
He had tried to apologise many times throughout the day for trapping me with him but oddly enough I didn't mind as much as I probably should have.
Sure I wanted to go home but being in this new world was magical. It was fantastic and so different from modern japan. Despite being trapped I couldn't wait to continue the adventure.
The cover image is being used with it's owners full permision. Link to the image below.
pixiv en/artworks/32108790