I thank whitworth5274 for helping me.
December 24, 2023: Floor 49
"It's nice to see this game has holiday events."
Christmas Eve festivities were taking place all around Aincrad. Much like Christmas the previous year, the front lines were throwing their own party on the farthest floor, but now multiple conquered floors were celebrating, whether they be set up by the players or an actual event by the game. And much like any Christmas Haruza had seen in anime, players went from stall to stall buying gifts, in restaurants for holiday meals, and for some, a date with friends or their special someone.
Unfortunately Haruza wasn't joining in on the festivities.
After paying a hefty amount of Col, Haruza heard from Argo that Kirito was going to fight a boss that only came out at Christmas time and dropped a rare item that would bring a person's avatar back to life. And she figured he would use it to bring back Sachi.
And despite the holiday cheer, it sounded like Kirito was losing his will to live.
Haruza palpated the flute on her waist. Her lessons with Yuna over the last few months is a gift for everyone who's been hurt by losing friends.
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Floor 35
Entering the wintery evergreen woods Argo directed her towards, Haruza found Klein and his guild eated on the snow, tired along with the Holy Dragon Alliance. Rushing to Klein's side, she knelt down and said, "Klein, what the hell's going on?!"
Exhausted, he pointed around the scenery as he talked. "Well, we showed up here to take on the event, right? We followed Kirito here, but out of respect…well, more like he left us with no choice, he went in alone. I tried to talk him out of believing a rumor, but you know…then these guys showed up. Need I say anything about the HDA thoughts on?"
"Kirito, you idiot!" Sighing, she turned her attention to HDA, Klein's right on the money about the Holy Dragon Alliance — formerly named the Dragon Knight Brigade. Searching the assembled players, she didn't find Lind, Shivata, Liten, or any of the lieutenants she knew well present. She wasn't talking to the A team, which made things much easier. "And you! You call yourselves holy? What a joke! You'll stoop to any low to get what you want! You're cut from the same cloth as those PKers!" Okay, maybe that's exaggerating, she's pretty cool with HDA's top brass and their guild was better than they used to be about being the top team, but she didn't care about logic right now.
A sudden noise in the darkness alerted Klein and Haruza. Looking to the forest, they saw Kirito coming out of the woods through a barrier of sorts. The map the event took place on is an instance map, meaning it's separated from the rest of the map of the thirty-fifth floor. He looked really down. In his hand was a glowing crystal with gold framing around it.
"Kirito, hey!" Klein greeted.
Seeing the crystal in his hand, Haruza gasped. "You got the item! What is it?"
He tossed the item to Klein. "There, that's the revival item."
Klein taps the item to bring up its properties window. "Let's see. It says 'Must administer to affected player… WITHIN TEN SECONDS?!'"
"But that means… Kirito…" The darkened expression on Kirito's face suddenly made sense. If Kirito was here for this, he came for one reason…and failed. Sachi really was gone. It took ten seconds for the NerveGear to destroy the brain after the gauge hit zero. And that moment has been long since past and gone.
"If someone dies in front of you someday, you make sure you use it."
As the swordsman walked away, Klein got up, grabbed Kirito by his jacket sleeve, and his voice broke as he shouted, "Kirito! Listen! Stay alive, you hear? I don't care how you do it! Just stay alive till the end!"
Kirito left without a word back to Klein, and the man fell to his knees. Desperate to keep her friend alive, Haruza shouted out, "Kirito, all you're doing is blaming yourself without seeing how much pain you're causing others who care about you! Please, let go of giving up your life before it hurts everyone you hold dear! Think of your family, OF SUGU! AND YOUR FRIENDS!"
"…Yeah…" was all he said back before he disappeared.
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Back in the inn room on the forty-ninth floor, Kirito wondered what he would do next. He felt there was no reason living after the revival item wasn't what he wanted and that he lost what remaining friendships he had.
He decided to fight the floor boss alone in the morning. That felt like a fitting end for someone as pitiful as him. All of his misery started with him fighting a floor boss, after all. So he sat waiting, not thinking about anything when suddenly, a timed alarm went off on his menu.
It read Gift Box From Sachi. "Sachi…" After clicking on the message, an Audio Crystal appeared and landed in his hands. Hesitant, he clicked on it.
"Merry Christmas, Kirito."
Hearing Sachi's voice after nearly half a year, Kirito gasped.
"By the time you hear this, I'll probably be dead. How can I explain this? Let's see. To tell you the truth, I never really wanted to leave the Town of Beginnings. And I knew if I fought with an attitude like that, I would end up dying someday. But that's not anyone's fault. That's something I have to deal with.
"Kirito, ever since that night you found me, you kept telling me I wasn't going to die, no matter what. But what if I got killed anyway? I knew if I died, you'd blame yourself. That's why I decided to record this for you. By the way, I know how powerful you really are. Sorry, I sort of peeked when you weren't looking. I wondered why you weren't telling the truth about what level player you really were. I wondered why you decided to fight with us. I never figured it out though.
"Heh, you know what? When I found out how strong you were, I don't know, it made me so happy. I felt relieved. So even if I die, promise me you'll go on living, ok Kirito? Stay alive so you can see the end of this world and find out why it was created. Find out why a weakling like me ended up here. Find out the reason you and I met. Please, that's what I wish.
"Oh, and a message for Haruza when you meet her next. Somehow, I knew she believed nothing was certain whether I died or not. But she didn't want to crush what little hope there was. Haruza, keep looking out for Kirito, and save him from his guilt.
"Looks I still have time so, seeing how it's Christmas and everything, I'll sing you a song."
Sachi then hummed 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'. As he listened, Kirito was overcome with emotions, and sobbed softly. Tears fell onto the desk making a soft platter sound when they landed.
"Anyway Kirito, I'm so glad I met you and Haruza, and that I could be with you. Even for a little while. Thank you, goodbye."
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It was nearly dawn on Christmas Day, Haruza stood outside of the inn where Kirito was staying. She figured now was as good as any to deliver her gift to everyone. After all the lessons from Yuna, Haruza wasn't going to let this go to waste.
First, she brought out her flute and played the first few notes of the song she chose. It was from an anime that didn't really get her attention, but she loved the songs. Then she began to sing.
Konna ni tsumetai tobari no fukaku de
Anata wa hitori de nemutteru
Inori no utagoe sabishii nohara wo
Chiisa na hikari ga terashiteta
Anata no yume wo miteta
Kodomo no you ni waratteta
Natsukashiku mada tooku
Sore wa mirai no yakusoku
Itsuka midori no asa ni
Itsuka tadoritsukeru to
Fuyugareta kono sora wo
Shinjiteiru kara
Fields of hope
A break from the vocals allowed Haruza to play a few notes on the flute. From the couple of windows she could see, it seemed everyone was waking up to it. Some people even came outside to see who was singing, and while she became more embarrassed as the crowd grew, Haruza had no intentions of letting her teacher down.
Umarete kita hi ni dakishimete kureta
Yasashii ano te wo sagashiteru
Inori no utagoe hitotsu kiete mata hajimaru
Tayorinaku setsunaku tsuzuku
Itsuka midori no asa e
Subete no yoru wo koete
Sore wa tada hitori zutsu
Mitsukete yuku basho dakara
Ima wa tada kono mune de
Anata wo atatametai
Natsukashiku mada tooi
Yasuragi no tame ni
Fields of hope
Natsukashiku mada tooi
Yakusoku no nohara
Fields of hope
Fields of hope
Tears running down her face, Haruza finished the last few notes on her flute. Once she was done, she bowed while the audience applauded. Hastily wiping her tears, she put up a bright smile and said, "Merry Christmas, everyone."
As the crowd dispersed and she put her belongings away, Haruza heard a pair of footsteps approach her from behind. Turning around, she gasped and said, "Kirito."
"Haruza… No, Haruko, I'm sorry. All this time, you've tried to help me pull through the loss of Sachi and the others, but I just kept avoiding you and pushed you away. Until last night, I…was going to die in a pathetic way. But I have to make things right with you and Klein and everyone else who reached out to me. Sachi would have wanted that."
From his pocket, he handed a crystal to Haruza. She clicked on it and heard the message Kirito heard the night before. Once it was over, Haruza had more tears trailing down her cheeks.
"Of all the Christmas songs to choose, she had to choose Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer… Sachi never blamed you or cursed you. She wanted you to go on living. Whatever Keita said, that's on him. He never truly understood Sachi at all."
Kirito sighed and looked at the rising sun. "I know that now."
"Does this mean you'll move forward, stop living in the past and look at what you have in front of you?"
"…Yeah. Yeah, I will…"
"I think I can help out with that."
They turned to see Taicho. His hands were stuffed in his pockets to protect against the early morning chill. Haruza was immediately happy to see her friend, then gasped when she realized he might have heard something he wasn't really supposed to. "Taicho. Uh, how much did you hear?"
Taicho looked to the white snow at his feet. "Well, I heard the song, but when Kirito came to talk to you, I stepped back a bit. I was listening to that girl's message."
"Taicho…"
Putting the crystal away, Kirito said, "Sachi was really close to me. I could've saved her and the others. There was nothing I could do. Right now I cannot mope around. I gotta try to move on."
Taicho nodded. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is let's spend this Christmas together and get to know each other."
Kirito tried to give a small smile, knowing that Sachi didn't want him to be depressed over her death. "You're right, Taicho..."
"So, what do you want to do?"
"Let's head down to the plaza; to at least celebrate Christmas with all the lights."
"Alright. I'll go buy some hot cocoa so we don't freeze out here."
"Sure thing, Haruza." Taicho nodded while Kirito kept his small smile up, putting his hands in his pocket as he stared up at the sky filled with falling snow. "The falling snow makes me think about snowboarding."
"Yeah..." Kirito then looked at his palm as a snow bit fell upon his hand and melted slowly. "Well…let's find somewhere to sit and wait on Haruza."
"Yeah, sure."
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"I'm back." As Haruza came back with the hot cocoa, Kirito and Taicho were already eating some Christmas treats at the bench. "Hey, when did you get those?"
"Oh. I found these from over by the tree. But I saved some for you, Haruza." Taicho went into his inventory to spawn in a few cookies in his hand, then handed some to Haruza.
"Thanks." While munching on the cookies, Haruza faced Kirito. "I haven't really noticed until now that your eyes are a bit red."
"Oh, really? Well…long night."
"You know, Kirito, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. Taicho's already heard this, but you know how my mom keeps pushing me in gymnastics ever since I hurt my leg? Well I'm afraid of actually going back home and she'll ruin my life. She'll throw out everything I worked so hard to find and collect then keep me isolated from my friends. Even you, a childhood friend. She's probably done all that the minute she learned about the real purpose of the game."
"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if all our parents did the same. I would be shocked if VRMMO gaming is still a lucrative business with this going on."
"You're not making me feel better."
"O-oh, um… No, she wouldn't? Because you've her beloved daughter?"
"Buhahaha," Taicho bellowed, nearly choking on his cocoa. "Smooth, Kirito. Never knew the Black Swordsman was great with words."
"Hahaha!"
"Ugh…"