A/N: I was a little caught off-guard by Virtual Immigration Chapter 22 getting more views than 21. In case it's because of references to In Defense of Beaters, I will give my decision next week when Chapter 23 goes up.


"WHAT!?"

"There's more," Adsila said over the phone after explaining the situation regarding the NerveGear's hardware specifications, "He's made it so the players have to beat the game to leave, and a death inside the game will lead to the NerveGear frying the brain anyway."

"MOTHERFUCK—" was all we heard from the other side before the call abruptly ended.

November 6th, 2022 – roughly 17:30 JST. Adsila Harbinger, my eldest daughter, called Algoma, my sixth-eldest daughter, to let her know what happened.

Adsila, CEO of Black Yeti Studios, was just robbed of her star employee, and her best friend for over eleven years, Aaron Rayner – better known by his gaming profile «SAUER».

She had met this boy back in 2011, when they were fourteen, in a fanmade 2D Mario MMO called Paper Mario Online. Since then, they had grown ever so close, as she helped him through his high school years in Australia, from her bedroom here in Japan. He would tell her what the curriculum taught for the term, and she would give him plenty of resources to read through on his own.

In 2014, when he finished highschool, she asked me to give a letter of recommendation for him, to the same university she was enrolling into, so she could personally nurture his development into a perfect first hire for her game development team. As soon as we told him he was in, Aaron got his student visa prepared, and arrived right before New Year's Eve.

But now, Adsila could lose the biggest investment of her life, to the whims of one Akihiko Kayaba.

Mr. Akihiko was a developer at Argus, another game company. He and Development Branch 3 had created the NerveGear, a VR headset using «FullDive» neural interfacing technology to block out all sensory input and output outside the brain, re-mapping all brain activity to virtual avatars in a 1:1 immersive experience.

Four and a half hours ago, Aaron logged into Kayaba's other ambition – Sword Art Online – as his typical SAUER character that he had used before, in the closed beta test in August.

But just a few minutes ago, the news interrupted broadcasts on every TV channel, and had cut into abruptly-placed midroll ads on almost every video streaming service. Kayaba himself announced on these broadcasts, live, that he had removed the logout button from inside SAO, and trapped every player of the game within. We could not remove the NerveGear without releasing locks made to restrict fatal energy outputs to the brain, and as we heard half an hour later, 213 players' closest relatives and friends did not heed this warning, frying the brains of their loved ones to death.

"This number is currently unreachable. Please try again later."

Adsila shook her head as she put her phone down. "I heard some plastic-and-metal sounding slam when the call ended. I think she threw her phone and broke it."

I sighed and wrapped my arms gently around the 25-year-old CEO. "She'll just buy another later. I know she felt very strongly about him before she met her husband, but she's just as strong as the other girls in this family."

I was a bit annoyed at the times Aaron had sprayed crustacean-infused water on Algoma when she was younger, having to treat her allergies every time she teased him. But I knew she would recover just fine every time, though she never learned her lesson. Of course, once she met the man whom she later ended up marrying, she quickly left Aaron alone.

"I don't need the hug this much," Adsila piped up as she looked back at me, "Action has to be taken now in the face of this crisis."

I took my arms back. "What will you do?"

She stood up, phone in hand, and headed toward her executive office in our commercial building which the family modified semi-permanently into a home. "He's family to us. Surely, we can still get damages as a family, like all the other actual families."

"Go for it," I gave her shoulder a pat as she passed me, "I'm sure the attorneys are wide awake."

Adsila stopped and turned to the couch, where the other sisters who were home had been sitting, when they came to see the news with their own eyes. "Abequa, estimate the work Aaron could've done in the time he's likely to be trapped. Use 12 months for the base model, I need to know how badly we'll slow down."

My second-eldest hopped to her feet. "You got it, sis!"

I heard Adsila talking to her other sisters – her fellow executives – in the background as I prepared myself and Aaron's trip to a medical care facility; in our case, Toko Izawa General Hospital, where I had worked since the late 2000s. I punched in as Dr. Alamea Harbinger, for what could be the longest shift I'd ever taken in my career.

Once I had gotten him settled in, I called Adsila to ask what everyone was doing by this point.

"I've got Amira re-reading a transcript of Kayaba's announcement, analyzing the terms as he had phrased them."

"Ah, looking for an exploit?" I couldn't help but chuckle, "It's just like you to think of that."

"Algoma's home now, too," Adsila clarified over the phone, "Sure enough, she smashed her phone after hearing the stakes."

I leaned back in the chair which gave me the best view of the ward. "How is she now?"

"She induced a sudden miscarriage, but was closer to another hospital. She still cares more about Aaron right now, though…"

I exhaled as I glanced over at the door with his name on it. "Some things just don't change..."

"Oh, I'm sure Ken feels the same," she replied as I heard my other daughters discussing their deep concerns for their sister, "About Algoma, I mean – not him."

"I'm assuming he's there with her now?"

"For the moment," Adsila cleared her throat awkwardly, "Pizza Hut is letting him bring home some other trapped player's order. Teriyaki mayo."

"I bet it was Algoma's idea," I giggled softly with a roll of my eyes, "What about the others?"

Adsila snorted. "All the married ones dragged their husbands out of sight for a couple hours."

"Hah! That's the Harbinger way," I contained my laughter as best I could, "If only your father were still available for me to do the same…"

"Ha-ha, right…" I could tell thinking of him that way made her feel weird. "And Algoma says she's gonna quit Pizza Hut so she can use all her available mental energy here on our games."

"It's lucky she's almost done with university," I yawned as I sat upright, "Anyone else?"

"Atepa's preparing a promo for Wednesday," Adsila answered quickly, "Elder twins are probably doing something similar, and the teens are doing the same for Thursday."

She referred to NXT JP – WWE's Japanese developmental brand managed by the Youth Wrestling Tribunal, consisting of Kosode Hollow, Gengetsu Phoebe, and Nina Caesium, each a founder of their own youth wrestling schools. NXT JP ran on Wednesdays, though it used to run on Tuesday back in the days when the original NXT ran on Wednesdays. Similarly, Gengetsu's all-female teen school, Shoujo Academy of Wrestling, ran their show – Shoujo Wrestling Class – on Thursdays.

"How's your daughter?" I asked my own, as I watched the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force, led by Kikuoka Seijirou, bring another player in under my supervision.

"She just wants space," Adsila sighed as I retrieved a Snickers bar from my coat pocket, "Abequa's twins are finishing off Pokémon Arceus so they can put all of their attention elsewhere."

Adsila's 11-year-old daughter, Yoki, and Abequa's 10-year-old twins, Shada & Shania, had been in Resort Kids' Wrestling Camp last August and late July, founded by Kosode Hollow. As it was created for pre-teens, it was the only co-ed wrestling school in the YWT – male teenagers would go to the Shounen Academy of Wrestling under Nina Caesium, and females went to Shoujo Academy.

Because both teen schools used the same wrestling acronym, they partially merged into a dyad, allowing them to incorporate both S letters into a new acronym, SAWS.

"Ah, I've gotta go. The younger kids are upset because the infants are crying."

"Alright. Good luck." I then hung up, without a thought of where my mind would end up later.


As I was taking all the time I could to stay at the hospital, I couldn't find the time to watch either of the aforementioned wrestling shows, so I had no idea how my daughters' feelings were impacting their in-ring performance – especially when I had to start wheeling out bodies with NerveGears on their heads, gagging as a burning smell hit my nostrils.

When I called Adsila to describe the experience – the flatline beep, the smell, the sight of catching them twitching just as the device erupted, the blood leaking from their noses – I could hear light leaving her eyes, through her shaky voice on the phone.

She told me that Algoma got a new phone, Anna quit her second job to focus on Black Yeti, and something else that broke my heart in a completely different way.

Yoki, my eldest granddaughter through Adsila, had found out that one of her school friends was trapped in the game, and that she and her wrestling friend, Alayla Cash, had a falling-out over Yoki wanting space, with Alayla citing another friend who was trapped.

"How is this going to affect them as a team?" I asked her.

"They actually got into it in Tuesday evening's wrestling class, I was called in with Alayla's parents; then it was agreed that they would be booked against each-other to vent, at YWT Sendoff. The following Thursday on TV, Alayla turned heel. Her parents and I will be on next week's show, with Alayla's mom playing a Karen-type."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Convenience of them being American like us."

"Oh, and Shada & Shania are going for your younger twins' tag titles."

I scrunched my face. "As long as it all stays in kayfabe. Last thing we need is family breaking down."

"Yeah, the girls get that – Ayasha turned heel, too; Amanda's going for her title."

"Again, as long as Awendela doesn't get mad at Ayasha," I sighed, using Amanda's real name.

I got to go home again for the 15th birthday of my youngest daughter, Ayita, on November 18th. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet released the same day, so we got her the former. Most of us would later own either game ourselves, as flawed as it was – even compared to Sword & Shield.

Near the end of the month, after I noticed the deaths were slowing down, I found myself with time that I could invest into other things I'd been hoping to do. And these were things for which I would need help from my eldest daughters. For the time being, that was just Adsila and Abequa.

When my daughters got back into contact with RECT on the partnership with Black Yeti, they told Yuuki Shouzou that the best solution was to not have an internal battery, and just run a device only from a wired connection. It was then that they were told, that RECT Progress was now in charge of FullDive development as a subsidiary division of RECT. Adsila was not too pleased to find that the obnoxious man who ruined hers and Aaron's previous conference with Mr. Yuuki, Sugou Nobuyuki, was leading RECT Progress. Begrudgingly, however, they were ready to work with Mr. Sugou on a professional level, strictly in business.

At the same time, some of the girls had managed to obtain a curated list of beta testers who didn't play the full release of SAO. A process would begin with interviewing these players about their experiences with the game, to determine the difficulty and estimated total clear time, based on the efforts made in a single month by these former players. It was also found that Black Yeti would be performing 30% slower without Aaron's contributions, since he put so much passion into every project undertaken by the team; whether it was his music, his storytelling, direction, or art design.

But they realized they could make back twice that pace loss, if the wrestlers did games full-time.

"That's gonna be rough," Atepa sighed upon hearing this news, "But it's not like we could keep our minds on two jobs at a time like this anyway."

"It's gonna take some doing," Awenasa agreed as Awinita finished her sentence, "But we'll have a conversation with the Youth Tribunal as soon as we can."

Awendela nodded from the other end of the couch. "Ayasha and I should have our feud finished by year's end."

Ayasha chortled, Shoujo Class Championship belt still on her shoulder. "Convenient that I have to drop this title when the year ends anyway. And that's exactly how I'll lose it."

Family cutting shoot promos on each-other in the privacy of our own home aside, the fact that we were making these arrangements felt crazy to us. We were almost certain that the passion of my daughters' generation was beginning to drift away from game development. But really, their hearts were always in sync with the eldest and her company. Whether that would hold true for their kids, though – only time would tell.


Late November 30th, I got an international call on my phone – from my 55-year-old mother, Ekta Harbinger, way back in Phoenix, Arizona.

Conveniently, I was just on my way to work, so I pulled over.

"Mom? What's up?"

"Family is what's up," Ekta answered, "You remember how our last Christmas together was before you took your kids to Japan?"

"Oh, uh…" I coughed awkwardly, "Well, you know how the medical field is."

Ekta chuckled over the phone. "Well, don't you worry your sorry ass yet – we're coming to you for Christmas this year."

I almost released the handbrake. "You guys? Here? That's… Incredible! But why?"

"The Phoenix Crest wishes it. As the inaugural family matriarch, she wants to see how her furthest descendant is handling management of two later generations."

I choked on my green tea upon hearing 'inaugural'. "W-Wh…! Owl Reaper Nascha is still alive?!"

"If she had died, we'd have cursed you for not attending her funeral."

Before I could ask any more questions, she hung up. I couldn't believe it. I'm going to see Nascha Harbinger again, when she's 115. When Native Americans were given true US citizenship in 1924, Nascha departed the San Carlos Apache reservation and took her daughter into the city. She then bought a massive plot of land on which to raise her family, an urbanized sect of her home tribe.

December 5th came around – Shuman & Sokanon's 16th birthdays. They each received Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, despite the flaws already pointed out by Ayita. They were both able to enjoy the game as much as was humanly possible by 2022 standards, but still felt cheated in some sense.

However, they were instantly much happier when Kushala Harbinger, my 70-year-old grandmother, arrived at the party as the first of my ancestors to reach Japan. It was surreal to look at her hair and see that it continued to retain its natural black color. Her face was still smooth, her skin still tight – even around her brown eyes – radiating major MILF energy from her figure despite otherwise appearing to be thirty. It kind of made me feel insecure after the work I had put into looking good for the party – shampooing and conditioning my auburn halfway-to-waist hair, showering and creaming my smooth tanned skin, and I was still early enough into my pregnancy that it didn't show. Yet, even before the party started, I had stared into my own dark brown eyes in the mirror, and found myself glancing down at my belly, wondering if it was worth doing this all over again after so many before.

"Great-grandma!" The Shoujo Tag Team Champions gleefully hugged the Sage of Diamonds – her mascot name as the owner of the Golden Scythe Casino, built on the tribe's reservation under the protection of tribal sovereignty laws.

"Hah. 'Great', indeed," Kushala laughed as she gave the twins a headpat, "But today is about you being great, and grand! Happy birthday, Shuman & Sokanon."

The twins gave their thanks, and I stood up for Kushala to sit where I had been. She made her way around to the front of the central couch of three, and sat down.

"So, where are the rest?" I asked as I leaned on the back of the left couch, where the twins sat.

"Ekta and Ela are accompanying Phoenix Crest on her way," grandma explained as she leaned back with a can of Pepsi, "Great-grandma Nascha will probably arrive last, but definitely not late."

I nodded as I pushed myself upright. "It's unbelievable that you made this journey yourself at 70. Imagining her coming here, at 115…"

Kushala chuckled as she sat upright. "She still gets out to a range every now and then to shoot her father's World War I guns."

"No way…! And her shoulder is fine against the recoil?"

She shrugged. "Up to about a week ago, at least. Her reaction was… odd. She'll explain it herself."

I subtly lowered my head and glanced aside. What does she mean by that? Nascha's reaction to showing her age was non-conventional? In what sense…? And yet, a sane-enough one to explain?

Adsila entered the conversation. "I assume you've heard about our golden boy?"

Her great-grandma nodded. "He should be your golden boy by now, young lady. Can't let little Yoki grow up thinking you call your central male role model 'Uncle', huh?"

My eldest rolled her eyes. "She's gotten along fine without a father. She doesn't need a 'step'."

"How about a real uncle, then?" Kushala chuckled as she looked over at Abequa and Amira, both seeming only slightly less irritated than Adsila, "Give Shada & Shania a stepdad, or Sisika."

Amira, born Aiyana, shook her head. "We appreciate that you're keeping track of the family tree closely enough to know who birthed whom, but Mr. Rayner has been an uncle to even our younger sisters in some sense."

Kushala glanced back at me as she laughed. "Really now? At this point, perhaps he should become your stepdad!"

I laughed awkwardly at my daughters' reactions. "Don't assume how quickly I could get over their biological father. He's still on my mind every day."

While that was true, the replica of my departed husband's package wouldn't last forever. He had it made for me while we were both in college, back in the US, so that I could stand the three months' downtime between a birth and the next safe time to conceive again. If it weren't for him finding an alternative to his speedy rounds, every daughter after Adsila could have been born prematurely, as had the other two mothers whom Kushala had just tried to push into marriage.

"Well, maybe if we visit again after he escapes," she went on as I dreaded her next words, knowing our family tree, "Maybe he could even become your stepdad!"

"Grandma!" I exclaimed at the idea, a little red from knowing the boy's kinks, "Surely mom hasn't stayed widowed for over twenty years?!"

The oldest woman in the room shook her head. "The circumstance behind her loss, is something a woman like her will never forget. But I think she's realized that she can't dwell on one man and the atrocity that took him from us, for the rest of her life."

I sighed exasperatedly. "And if she denies you too? Does Aunt Ela still have her husband?"

The 70-year-old crushed her empty Pepsi can into a disc, and every other girl flinched.

"Bastard bailed on her for some slave girl he rescued from ISIS. Completely defeating the point of setting her free!"

I blinked a few times before speaking again. "Sorry to hear. Did she even get any kids out of him?"

Kushala took a deep breath. "Not even close. He went into a boarding school right after marrying, then requested deployment as soon as he could enlist in proper service."

Alaqua, who had entered in time to see the can crushed, added her two cents. "The first part would sound honorable at first, but then he must have learned what the enemy was doing."

I shook my head, dipping it low in response to all that even my ancestors had been through.

"Must have done a lot of studying on the subject," the furious matriarch snarled, "The girl he took home was the age Ela was when he married her!"

She then quickly calmed down again. "Sorry. Alaqua, I hear you have a happy marriage?"

My fourth-eldest nodded. "Wouldn't have had so many kids of my own if not. We all appreciate the congratulatory gifts on the first male birth in seven generations, too."

"You weren't trying to have a boy, were ya?" Kushala laughed as she yawned, "I'm kidding. Ahiga is just as welcome to be a Harbinger, as all of his past, concurrent, and future lineage."

I giggled softly as I took the crushed can from her. "Sounds like the jet lag just hit, grandma. You'll have plenty of time to bond with your descendants throughout the month."

She conceded, and the evening became night, and finally concluded the day, in her absence. Next morning, we showed her around my daughter's combined home and executive HQ. She spent the majority of the day playtesting Black Yeti's latest upcoming releases.


The day after that, Nalin, my great-grandmother, arrived in the afternoon. We didn't get much of a chance to talk, other than her suggestion that we watch tomorrow's Shoujo Wrestling Class live.

"You mean, in person?" I asked.

"Of course!" Nalin chuckled as she pulled up an email receipt on her phone. "We can't all go to see NXT JP TakeOver: The Dome, without seeing YWT Sendoff this Saturday! So, let's see the go-home show for Shoujo Class, too!"

"You all bought tickets to TakeOver?!"

"And we knew you might not have," Kushala answered from the stairs, "So, we bought tickets for everyone here."

All of my daughters got up from the three couches, vocalizing their joy in unison. Then they turned around for my response.

"What'chu lookin' at me for? I'm not the elder of the house right now."

The girls all cheered as they knew the elder's answer. That evening, despite bowing out of the show since the November 9th episode, I watched this week's NXT JP with the others.

Last week, my 19-year-old daughter, Atepa, had won her semifinal match in the tournament for the vacant NXT JP Women's Championship, previously held by Kumiko Hayashida – as I hated to recall, Kumiko and her intended challenger, Brandi Francisco, were trapped in SAO as well.

This week, she cut a promo on her opponent in the finals, the Australian Mira Korvus. Atepa asked Korvus not to pity her, and to put her entire heart into the match, no matter her nerves.

Of course, everyone knew the situation with Atepa, as she worked for Black Yeti just as hard as her older sisters, and Aaron himself, who may or may not have met the trapped wrestlers in-game.

Earlier in the episode, Awenasa & Awinita, the newest developers at Black Yeti, spoke with Atepa backstage about their futures. As it turned out, Adsila had forgotten to tell me that the twins had relinquished the NXT Women's Tag Team titles – just two and a half weeks after winning them at Halloween Havoc – because they didn't have the spirit to leave Japan in order to defend them.

After the show, Kushala got an autograph from Hana Kimura.

The next evening, we made our way to WWE's Japanese Performance Center, a training facility put together by Phoebe Gengetsu for Shoujo Wrestling and leased to WWE. SAWS held both wrestling classes here and streamed them live on YouTube.

It was when we arrived, that we ran into Liluye Harbinger, Nalin's mother, at age 100.

"You knew we'd be here, didn't you, great-great-grandma?" It felt unbelievable to refer to a living person with two greats. And soon, I'd be saying it three times. …And my granddaughters would be saying it five times.

At the start of the show, Amanda and Ayasha would cut a promo together. As was typical, the small audience of friends and family of the students, cheered for Amanda's words, and booed Ayasha.

"It's been a month now," said Amanda with a sigh, "And you still don't understand that we have to cope as a family. You know, together."

Ayasha shook her head. "Our friends at school will survive. It feels heavier because you have two in there, but they have an advantage together. Mine? He's all alone. And he probably will be, the way that boy is. I feel like I was the only one who connected with him, only because I tried."

She referred to Awendela's two trapped friends, Nochizawa Eiji and Shigemura Yuuna; and her own friend, Shinkawa Shouichi. All of my daughters went to different schools, spreading out all across metropolitan Tokyo, as an experiment by Adsila to compare the quality of education in each of the schools her younger sisters went to. Some of them obviously had to travel further in the mornings and afternoons than others, but my eldest thought it was worth it, as she could use it to determine which school would best prepare students for university, earning scholarships from Black Yeti.

"But that doesn't mean we can't miss them together," Amanda replied, "Hell, we won't even be in school for more than another four months, and we'll have to work so hard to find them again when they escape. Even so, you act like it's so certain that they'll all win. What if they don't? You haven't prepared for how you'll feel if that's the outcome."

Ayasha groaned. "It wouldn't even matter if we instead had each-other's friends. You're right, we would have to find them again. And when we do that, we'll see them all. Only then, should we use our time to think about the outcome."

A little more back-and-forth, and they were primed for YWT Sendoff on the coming Saturday. Then, closing the go-home show, would be Yoki Harbinger, and Alayla Cash.

"You're already depressed from the pressure of studying a year ahead," Yoki said, the RKWC Girls' draped over her shoulder, "Please, stop putting so much more pressure on yourself. You will break before you even have your first defense. Don't fall apart like your bullies want."

"You just don't get it," Alayla snarled, "I wouldn't even be in the school I ended up going to, if I was not performing on the level that I am. I've proven that I can get it done; there is no meaning to the struggles on the journey, if I made it. I'm here, and that's what matters. Behind me, it's all dark. I've never had a reason to look back. And hey, if our friends in the game are up ahead, it's all the more reason to keep pushing forward."

Yoki sighed. "I knew it was coming… We can't run from the truth – we've got friends trapped, too. Here's the thing: I've had to think about them every day. You can go out of your way to worry, and that's good to do. My grandma works with the victims, though. She's always with them, and I hear her stories the few days that she comes home."

"Yeah, but that's her job! It's unavoidable for her. I don't need to be there for it. All I need is the support of my peers. But they're not there! I had two, and now I have one. They stood up for me, when the bullies came by. And the last one's going into senior high, next. I'll be all alone!"

It was the truth. No-one said names on TV, but Yoki's friend was Ayano Keiko, in the same grade as her at the end of elementary. Alayla, while the same age as Yoki, had been enrolled into the school system a year early, putting immense pressure on her for just over half a decade. As a result, Alayla was already in junior highschool, and had made two other friends at Aeterna Girls Academy. One of them was a SAO beta tester like Aaron, but wasn't able to get a release copy – Tozawa Misumi.

The other friend, however, Yoki knew – but not in a way that could be publicly known, as the father of that friend was working with my eldest daughter's company. And the Black Yeti executives had heard much of RECT CEO Yuuki Shouzou's concern for his daughter, Asuna. Yoki was hurting over Asuna just as badly as Alayla was, but she couldn't tell her.

Yoki blinked. "But… I'll be there, next year. I'm starting there, after she leaves."

Alayla rolled her eyes. "You? These days, you're only around me during Shoujo Class. And half that time is eaten up in singles contest. Why were we even a tag team, if we barely tagged? It's come to the point that I should have just had those two friends! One might die, and the other is going away! You had to be there from the start, and you weren't!"

"I wanted to!" Yoki wailed tearfully, as Alayla had become while speaking, "I knew I would have this difficult decision to make! I wanted to be there for you, but it isn't really a decision! I had my own demons, in the form of the friend I have in the game, along with someone I consider family! On the topic of family, that's always who you put first! I have more responsibility at home, than I do for my companions! And you could have had it worse, you know! Your other friend tried so hard to get the game, and the fact that she didn't is why you still have someone, ANYONE at school to help you for the rest of the year! I have no-one anymore! All my support is at home! You have yours evenly split over your day, and I wish I could give you all my excess! But I can't just give you people…!"

"And that's where your effort ends? Is it?! Your friend is our age, yes, but mine doesn't even play games at all! What chance does she have?! The other was in the beta test, and if I could possibly get my hands on a copy of the game, I'd give it to her in a heartbeat, because she could save each of our trapped friends!"

"And I have the means!" Yoki answered, her voice hoarse, "My family could get her that game if it was really the rational or moral thing to do! She stands a better chance, yes, but it's not guaranteed for any of them! My honorary uncle was a beta tester, and even if he does make it to the top of the castle, he might not recognize anyone else with whom he got there! And when he gets out, he will have to cope like us. All the survivors will, just like everyone still outside."

More championship-related conversation took place afterward, and then the show concluded. Next evening, Atepa went alone to watch Shounen Class, as she was the only one who had a boy to root for there.

The SAWS students were all set for Saturday's YWT Sendoff, where all of these story arcs would be concluded for the year, a week before NXT TakeOver: The Dome. My daughters, myself, and all my living, maternal ancestors would be attending in the audience of both these shows.

After that, my family would prepare for what would be our biggest Christmas for a few years yet.

One which would also be our most memorable for even longer.


A/N: Well, there you go. This is what I'd said I had planned. I have three other chapters currently finished, and though I only plan to put one up when I don't have anything else prepared, it's looking like the second chapter could go up next fortnight, after VI23 next week.

I'm hoping I can get this off the ground, but in truth, this spinoff only exists to help readers get used to these characters, after they were glossed over in VI1. You don't expect me to stop Virtual Immigration only after Aincrad, do you?

But that doesn't mean I won't work just as hard on this as I do on that. I don't want people coming in at, say Chapter 83 of VI and go "What an ass-pull, where does this piece of information come from to say that this thing can happen?" when I can easily put things in earlier on to clarify those types of things. I'm taking care of everything beforehand so that it doesn't get thrown aside as 'retroactive'.

Also, this spinoff will be formatted in a way that there will be little to no repeated POVs from chapter to chapter. For example, the next one will be Adsila's. Also as an aside, I had to make a couple edits before this chapter went up, because I never actually included the name of Alamea in the drafts. Please excuse the fact that it only appears once in the second-or-so scene. Hopefully, context clues would have helped you beforehand, if you had memorized Chapter 1 of Virtual Immigration.

If you'd like to yell at me about my terrible logic and problem-solving skills, or about my writing ability, join a bunch of others who are doing the same, on a dedicated SAO fanfiction Discord server using this key: Sycypugbxq

That should be it. See you next Friday/Saturday overlap.