Chapter 18

[ Hero ]

Kirito's story wasn't something a lot of people knew, though one that she did because Sister Azalia had shared with her when she'd visited the church during one of her patrols with Cherise; he was an orphan, found in the forest as a babe and taken in by Sister Azalia to be raised in the church alongside the other children.

Since then, he'd found his footing amongst his numerous brothers and sisters in all but blood, growing up to be a lively, naughty but kind child to everyone around.

And extremely popular amongst the village children, it seemed.

To be fair, if Kirito wasn't popular before, he certainly was now following his battle with Synthesis One. A display like that in front of everyone in the village was certain to draw eyes, coupled with some awe for how he'd been so undaunted by the very idea of fighting a being that came from the divine.

But even without that, it wasn't difficult to notice just how highly he was regarded by children his age, younger and above. Likely had to do with his affable characteristics, and (as Sister Azalia grumblingly and fondly put it) all the shenanigans he got up to with the kids or his friends.

Her eyes gazed up from the mug of hot coffee in her hands, watching the orphanage children surround the boy in question and chatting animatedly at him as he tried to answer each question with equal gusto.

And that smile on his face… It was so genuine and happy that she felt a twinge in her heart.

'Ah… I really shouldn't let those kinds of thoughts permeate my mind for tonight,' she shook her head to dispel such uncomfortable thoughts. 'He has had to suffer too much. But just for tonight, it's more than enough for him to be happy.'

The celebration of Kirito's and Eugeo's feats was certainly a rambunctious one, considering the entire audience was nothing but the children of the village. The only adults here were herself, Sister Azalia, and apparently Sulinea (she was busy helping the nun with cooking). Everyone else here were children, so the loud noise was predictable.

Gasupht and Orick had been called, too, but they were busy planning for the winter. Sadina couldn't make it because she had to help her husband. So it was only herself and Sulinea.

"They really outdid themselves, huh?" Sulinea asked.

"Indeed. The decorations, the food, the…" She chuckled a little. "Colorful welcome they had."

Eugeo's older sister giggled into her hand. "You got that right. They really put their all into this one. Wanted to make it a fun one for the boys, I'm sure."

And they sure were, she had no doubt. Eugeo was busy trying to juggle his attention between his brothers and some other children, whereas Kirito had no trouble trying to entertain all of them, answering their questions with gusto—a clear showing of his naturalness with children.

"And, and! You were like, ka-blam! Ka-woosh!"

"Yeah, you were so cool! You fought him like he was nothing!"

"Mmhm!"

The ravenette laughed out loud, ruffling the head of a boy. "You kidding, Genji? You saw how I lost that day. I had all those weird tricks, but I still lost."

Perhaps, though there was certainly no denying the fact that his creativity had given him some actual opportunities. Had Synthesis One been even a little careless, she had little doubt in her mind that Kirito could have landed a blow. He'd been able to manoeuvre all around the man to throw him off, after all.

Not like the boy knew that. He'd fought without proper ideas or carefully telegraphing his moves, always relying on those wide swings of his. That was certainly one thing he could work on, if he decided to be a swordsman.

"So hey! Since we're all here, can you show us some moves, Kirito?!" Someone asked. The volume of noise in the room was amplified threefold.

"No he can't!" Eri cried out. "It's too dangerous!"

"Exactly. There's way too many of us here, and the space here isn't big. I'd end up cutting someone," while a majority of everyone present whined in disappointment, there were more than a couple of looks of understanding in the crowd. "And besides, y'all saw how I was like during that mock battle. That wasn't anything special."

"But still!"

"If you want, you could always go ask Jink's dad to show one thing or another, or even Jink himself."

The boy in question, standing in the corner with some of his friends, went pale in the face. "Nuh-uh! No way I want to fight Kirito! He fought a flipping Integrity Knight, for crying out loud!"

"Didn't you always say you'd fight him in the future, just to show him that you're a lot better than him?" Someone raised a brow at him, others joining in with sounds of agreement and acknowledgement.

"W-Well, I changed my mind! I'm not doing it!"

A few children booed at him in response, though Kirito was quick to regain control of the situation and calm them down. Charlotte, in the meantime, attempted to recall Jink's name, realizing a moment later that he was the son of the current village's guards. Reyes, on the other hand, lead the hunters who operate further from the village for the most bit, though the two groups' duties often align.

Apparently a bully, though she supposed that came naturally to him considering his father's important position in the village and his pride in his father. Not like it was earning him any favours amongst the other children, though, as shown by tonight.

"Kirito, if there was anyone here you'd be able to beat, who d'you think it is?"

"That's… I don't know," he shrugged back, taking a bite out of his bread dipped in berry sauce. "Like you saw, I'm not the best at fighting, so there's no way I could confidently say that I'd beat someone easily."

"But you did fight that big monster. Right, Euden?"

"Yeah! He was there," nodded the small blond. "He and big bro saved us after the whole fight was over!"

"What was it like?" Kirito asked, directing his question towards his friend's brother. "While you were stuck inside of it, I mean."

"Hmm… Well, honestly, we didn't know how it happened. One moment, Eugene and I were just playing outside, and then we just… passed out?" He shrugged back, sounding and looking uncertain. "I dunno'. Like, I wasn't awake or stuff. Saw, felt and heard nothing. And then, I just remembered waking up when you tore that gross thing open."

She remembered being there to help extract the victims from the pods. They'd all woken up confused, grossed out and absolutely horrified when they finally took in the beast's appearance. Relief crashed upon them when they realized they hadn't been eaten or anything.

The process of getting them to Zakkaria had certainly been an ordeal, considering just how many people the Million-Eyed had managed to snag up. Fortunately, despite everyone's initial panic of the situation, Fanatio had managed to convince them to calm down and cooperate. Everything afterwards went as planned.

"Then, then! Can you tell us how it happened?"

"Ehh? Well…"

"Yeah! We're curious! Come ooon, Kirito! Tell us the story!"

They were all hounding him in that moment, practically a cacophony of demands and begging. The poor boy looked so out-of-it, looking over the sea of heads for any form of help. Eugeo, despite looking like he wanted to, just shrugged a shoulder with a weak smile. Charlotte had to stifle a chuckle at that.

"Urgh… Fine, fine!" He cried out. "Geez, I just can't beat all of you… Alright, come on. Get seated and get comfy. It's story time!"

Cheers broke out amongst the younger children, while even the older ones got closer to hear him regale the tale. Euden and Eugene rushed to sit right in front of him, while he was offered a chair by Azalia, who had a twinkle of amusement in her eye. He sweat-dropped back, though he faced the children once more to tell the story of two boys, a woman and a knight against a monster the likes of which the Human Empire had never seen before.

And through it all, she stopped to listen.

Selka remembered that night. Hard not to when all the adults had suddenly gone into a panic and Kirito and Eugeo, having just returned from the Northern Cave, were so determined to leave the village to find 'it'.

From start to finish, she sat there, enthralled, listening to the older boy tell the story from his point of view. Of how he'd gone to the cave for something important (though what it was, he couldn't say at the time), before he and Eugeo reconvened with Charlotte in the village, told of the sudden disappearance of several people—including Eugeo's own brothers, something that the boy in question admitted to having been incredibly stressed about.

Eugeo and Charlotte had left first to scout the mountains down south, whereas Kirito had gone to take the Blue Rose Sword from the shed he kept the axe in. Fanatio had met up with him there, and though initially against him leaving, opted to take him along.

The rest had all but been a blur for him, speaking of the mass appearance of the monster and their attempts to slow it down when it was blazing its way towards Zakkaria and Rulid. That alone left so much dread in their beings, uncomfortable with the notion that they and their village could have been wiped out, were it not for him.

He described the monster, down to its minute details like the blood red veins across its body and its hard carapace. He talked of the human-like eyes that grew from its body, shooting powerful beams of light that decimated the terrain—she remembered those as the flashes of light across the sky, having mistaken it as thunderclaps. The truth had been so much worse.

He described his own state at the time, his heart drumming in his ears and his blood pumping faster than a horse's rush.

He talked of their decision to split their team into two; that Charlotte and Fanatio would attempt to injure the beast from the outside, whereas he and Eugeo went inside of the monster (everyone gasped at that, herself included) to destroy its core to kill it.

He paused, then tried to remember the fight inside. He talked of the wolf-like monsters that were spawned, then of the massive clawed hands that tried to strike him down.

He spoke of the Blue Rose Sword's power, which he was able to momentarily tap into, granting him the opportunity to break the core and effectively halt the Million-Eyed's progress.

"It was… really terrifying," despite his laughter, there was a clear strain in his expression, as if trying to shrug it off for their sakes. "Like, man. It's not like I'm a fighter, you know? And when we went in there, if we did one thing wrong, we…"

A deep breath expelled. In that single moment, she thought of every possibility that they had averted, managing to scrape by and get that one-in-a-million victory.

No one had gotten hurt, no towns or villages had been destroyed, and they'd managed to save everyone. That was a victory beyond anything else that they could have possibly asked for, and she felt like she understood why that very important person from Centoria had come to meet him.

"That's…" It was Hotaru, who looked like he was struggling to speak. Eventually, he settled on: "You're amazing, Kirito."

"Pfft, you're kidding? It wasn't just me. It was me, Eugeo, Charlotte and Fanatio. Not exactly the team you'd expect, but at least we got the job done."

"But like, you ran in there like crazy. You weren't even hesitating."

"Oh, trust me, I definitely did. Part of me probably thought if it was okay to just… not do it, you know? And it probably would've been fine. Fanatio said it best; we were just kids. We didn't have to do it."

"Then why did you?"

Eriana's question prompted him to pause for a moment, before he spoke up once again. "I guess… because if we didn't, who else would have?" His shoulders stiffened. "I mean, the Integrity Knights could have taken the job, but there was no time for that. And everyone else were too preoccupied with making sure the village was safe. It was just us—"

"—Oh, for sure, we were out of depths. Like, waaay out of it. But even so, we just had to go for it," he met everyone's eyes, those midnight orbs filled with something Selka couldn't put a finger on. "I said to Fanatio that night that I… that I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I just did nothing. I had to try something. Anything to help at all. That's why I went."

"Whoa…"

That strong front was replaced with a chuckle, Kirito's facial expression softening. "Still, I'm really glad that it wasn't just the two of us. Charlotte was incredibly strong, and Fanatio's a knight, so their help mattered a lot. There was no way we could have won otherwise."

"But even so, you're amazing!"

"Yeah, you guys fought and beat that monster together! No one else has ever done a thing!"

"Representing Rulid!"

"You two are the coolest!"

Selka watched how his face burned bright from all the compliments the children were throwing at him, making her giggle a little. For how tough he can be, he sure isn't insusceptible to genuine praise, huh? That never changed.

"A-Ah… It's not a big deal…"

"It is!" Someone shouted. "After all, that wasn't the first time you saved us! That night… You saved us again, remember?"

All sounds in the room ceased as all eyes turned towards her. It took Selka a moment to realize why before she finally realized that it had been her who spoke earlier. Even Kirito was staring at her, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

"Eh? What do you mean by that, Selka-chan?"

"Ah…" Suddenly put under the spotlight, she was growing uncomfortable, hands fiddling with one another. "That's, um… I don't…"

"Did something bad happen to you, Selka-chan? What happened?"

"That's, err… I—"

Before she could answer, someone else answered. "We were attacked," it was Yuka who answered, looking afraid but also accepting. "We… That is, me, Selka and Yuka. We were attacked five months ago."

The others broke out into sounds of shock and pity, some fussing over them. Sister Azalia watched the scene with a frown, though she refrained from saying anything.

"Why? What happened to you?"

"It was wolves," Kirito answered, everyone turning to look at him again. He looked calm, though there was no hiding the unease. "Eugeo and I heard from Sana that Yuka and Eriana had gone missing, so we went to look for them in the forest. Then we saw them being chased by wolves—big ones, no less. They weren't hurt yet, but they were surrounded—"

"—So I decided to run bait and draw them away from the girls. Eugeo tried to help the girls, though he got injured in the arm as a result," he looked downright hurt when he said that, and she could only imagine just how much that bothered him. "Thankfully, Charlotte showed up to help us. She killed most of the wolves, including the one that hurt Eugeo, and I only finished off their big boss."

"And that makes it two times that Kirito's saves us!" Eri shouted.

"Yeah! Man, you're amazing, Kirito!"

"Thank you for saving us so many times!"

"Geez, you guys…"

Selka sent a grateful look to Yuka and Eri, both of them smiling back. She honestly hadn't thought much before speaking, and she would have almost let slip that it had been goblins who kidnapped them. Thankfully, they managed to back her up before that happened.

She remembered that night, when they were returning to the village, that Charlotte had reminded them to stick to the story about wolves. The biggest reason behind that was because the panic that would have followed after amongst the village people would have been great. After all, there'd never been any instances of people from the Dark Territory entering their lands.

Or… perhaps, that hadn't been the first one. And that alone would have been such a horrifying thought to swallow.

Charlotte brought up the point that the village people, should they ever learn of that incident, would have decided to move away from the north. Selka and the others had been against that, unable to accept leaving this place. Thankfully, such wouldn't come about, so long as they kept that incident buried under wraps. No one needed to know.

She also promised to keep a closer look on the village's perimeters and scout the wilderness for any activity. There'd been nothing thus far, so she supposed no news was good news.

'At least everything is okay now. Nothing can ever go wrong.'

She smiled, feeling so glad that Kirito had found them that night. If he hadn't… well, there was no knowing what would have happened to them. Maybe the goblins would have killed them? Taken them away to their village?

She was here, alive, all because of him. She wouldn't be forgetting that any time soon.

Her eyes drifted to the medium-sized box sat against the wall, wrapped in baby-blue paper. After tonight, then.

The celebrations hadn't lasted long into the night. It was just a small thing planned amongst the children for both him and Eugeo, which he'd appreciated way more than he got to say. The most enjoyment he'd had, in all honesty, was having seen everyone again and just fooling around without a care. Sister Azalia certainly hadn't minded.

There hadn't been any activities or games planned, but Sulinea had thought up of a few on the fly just to entertain the children. Props to her for being so good at that.

Although, he could have gone without the coloured dust in his hair—a second time, no less. He ruffled up his hair to get them out with a grunt, though he was certain the bath from earlier already did the job. "Geez. They sure didn't mind coloured dust at me again. You'd think they got bored of that after the first time."

"That's what you get for volunteering," snorted Eugeo, handing him a towel. He accepted it with thanks, scrubbing it through his head. "I have to say, you managed to avoid the first two shots. And theeen…"

"Yeah, yeah. Mister-I-don't-want-to-get-involved-so-I'll-just-stand-by-the-sidelines."

"Hey, the first time was more than enough. I didn't want to go through the second. Besides, I had to be the taste tester for that second game. I think that's fair."

Oh yeah. He was the taste tester for the game where they had to see who got to make the 'tastiest' drink. It was nothing short of just mixing fruits and berries (and whatever else they wanted to. Get creative, Sister Azalia dared to say), then letting Eugeo going through them and then deciding the winner.

Let's just say he was glad he hadn't joined that one.

"I swear, one of them must have snuck in a chilli pepper or something. My mouth is still stinging."

"I remember! That one was Hotaru's, right? It must have been so spicy," he laughed. "You looked so sad and miserable."

"Well, yeah! I thought it was going to be a nice drink, not one to kill my tongue! I don't even know where he got that from!"

"Ehh, we all had to lose one way or another. I got sore muscles, and you got a sore tongue. We both came out of this losers."

"Yeah… But it sure was fun."

'It was,' he agreed, sharing a nod with his friend as they sat back against the wall of the church. They were both sitting outside in the back, where the well was, staring up and enjoying the starlit night sky.

Heavens know it hadn't been a long night, but it sure felt like one, what with all the fun they had. The kids went to bed and practically fell asleep there and then, exhausted from the few activities they participated in. Kirito himself had to help a few to their beds and make sure they dressed up before falling asleep on the floor.

Heh. For all the time that's passed, it felt like nothing had changed. Things were literally the same as before, much to his relief; he wouldn't have known what to feel if everything back home had changed so drastically.

But no, nothing was different. All the children were still rambunctious as ever, Sister Azalia was still a stern but kind presence, and everyone were fine.

"We sure went through a lot…"

"No kidding. It's enough for me to hope that we never have to go through that sort of crud in the future."

"But we will, though."

"Eh. One can dream."

At the very least, he wouldn't be alone facing whatever would come at them in the future. He'd have Eugeo by his side, and Charlotte, and Selena. There was nothing that he couldn't possibly face.

'Ah. Looks like someone is coming to you both.'

'Huh? Who is—'

"Kirito! Eugeo! Are you outside?"

Both boys paused upon hearing that voice, heads turning towards the back door as it swung open, watching as a little girl with tea-coloured hair stepped out. She was dressed in a simple green dress with a big orange scarf wrapped around her neck. It almost looked like it had swallowed up the lower half of her head. Behind her was Charlotte.

The familiar, ingrained instinct to turn tail and run was reignited, but he forced himself to stay, heart beating in his chest.

"Selka, Charlotte," he called out. They turned to look at him and Eugeo. He rose to his feet, patting the back of his pants. "What's up? I thought you went back home already."

"I offered to stay back and help Azalia tidy up," the older ravenette answered. "We are already done. Sulinea is in the canteen waiting for you, Eugeo."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me."

"No worries. And I must say, you two sure had your fun."

"Hah," he laughed easily. "I guess you could say that. Everyone were having fun too, so it would've been lame to be the party pooper."

"Perhaps. I am certain everyone will be sleeping well tonight."

"Hoping that's the case."

"Um!" All attention shifted to Selka, her eyes wide and her body tense. "I, er, made you guys something! I mean, well, it was me and Charlotte who made them, but I uh…"

Charlotte chuckled, gently nudging her on the shoulder. "Go ahead and give them."

She didn't say a word, simply nodding timidly before walking forwards to offer them a box. Kirito accepted it with a quirked brow, not recalling any mention of gifts or the like.

"I, um, was going to give everyone one—you, Eugeo, and all the other church children. They told me to give you yours first."

"Eh? Really?" Sheesh. Just because it was a celebration for the two of them didn't mean they shouldn't have gotten their gift. "Well, okay then. Let's see what it is."

Undoing the wrapping and pulling off the lid, Kirito was surprised to see two neatly-folded wool scarves sitting side by side. One was a pitch black, though both ends had dark blue interlaced with them, creating something like a pattern of an aurora, albeit barely. The other one was bright blue in contrast, with speckers of green across the entire thing, looking like jewels.

"Selka has been working hard on them ever since before the Million-Eyed incident. I think they came out right well, don't you think?"

"B-But you helped me with the blue parts of Kirito's scarf!"

"Perhaps, but you still did much of the work. I only helped here and there."

"They're beautiful," Eugeo said with a happy smile. "Thank you. This is for the winter, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah! I was thinking, you guys probably didn't have a scarf of sorts, so I thought… it'd be nice if you could have one…"

"It would be nice. Thank you. This is really thoughtful."

"Why… would you make this?"

The box shook a little, and Kirito noticed it was from his hands trembling. He swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat as he looked away from the beautiful scarves and down to his feet, wishing a hole would just open up to take him away.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," he forced out. "Why would you make something like this for me?"

"I… don't understand," Selka sounded confused, and he felt terrible for saying what he did. But the guilt in him did not allow him to simply accept her gift; not until he could finally confront his demons. "I mean, it's a thank-you for everything."

"But that just… doesn't make any sense. You should be mad at me."

"Mad at you?" She was now frowning. "You never did anything wrong, Kirito. Why would you—"

"Alice," speaking her name in front of her sister turned his stomach into a bottomless pit, his throat into lead.

"Kirito… What happened to her isn't your fault."

"But it's because of me that Alice was taken away from us!" That came out as a shout, uncontrolled and filled with emotion that he wished to bury deep down. "I was the one that brought us to the mountain! And then, she touched the soil of the Dark Territory because I was too slow to stop her! And I failed the next day to save her!"

"That's not true! None of that was your fault!"

He shook his head fervently, desperation mounting. "Yes, it is! If I'd just told her to give up on that idea, she'd still be here with us! You'd still have your sister, and Eugeo would still have his best friend! Uncle Gasupht and Auntie Sadina would be happier, and no one would have had gotten hurt! It's all my fault!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"

Selka stomped her foot on the ground, voice hiking. "Stop blaming yourself! You didn't make her go away! It was an accident!"

"An accident..! God, Selka, I keep telling you—"

"N-No! You're wrong! Just because something bad happened to Onee-sama, d-doesn't make it your fault! You can't just blame yourself for what happened!"

Why were they shouting? Even worse, why did he refuse to believe in Selka? Why was he so determined to not let go of the memories of that day?

That nightmare had never left him; Alice clasped in chains as she was hung from the dragon, a victim of his mistakes and the one to pay for in blood. Because of him, a young girl who should have lived a long, beautiful life with her loved ones was ripped away, nothing but the axe awaiting her.

He'd done that to her. To Eugeo and Selka.

He'd done that.

"If only… If only he took me instead, then—"

"Don't say that!"

Something crashed into his body, almost making him let go of the box. He gasped, vision replaced with a head of orange hair that stood shorter than he did.

"Selka?"

"P-Please, don't say that..! O-Onee-sama would be really sad if she heard that!"

Her shoulders trembled, a colossal effort spent just to keep herself from breaking down into tears. His own heart clenched, and though Kirito wanted to simply hold her in his arms to comfort her, the part of him that despised himself did not give him that opportunity, torn between standing still and reaching for her.

"None of it was your fault… So stop blaming yourself…"

"…How could you say that?" He sounded so weak. So tired. So hurt. Everything hurt. "How could you still give me this? Why don't you hate me?"

"B-Because… you tried… You tried to save her that day. You got hurt by it, a-and Onee-sama was crying so much," told that, he felt like he'd been struck with a fist to the gut. He'd seen her face only briefly in that moment, but he hadn't thought it had hurt Alice as well. Fuck. "A-And you saved me!" She pulled back, staring up at him. Kirito faltered at seeing those watery blue eyes of hers, so reminiscent of Alice's, filled with conviction and trust. "You saved me from those goblins, a-and Yuka and Eri! And then again, with the big monster! You saved us!"

"But… that doesn't change the fact that…"

"If you think you messed up, where does that put me?" His head turned towards Eugeo, who was clenching his jaw so tight it looked like he might just snap his teeth. "At least you tried to help her. I just stood there when she was being taken away. I didn't do anything!" He snapped, self-hatred so thick it was suffocating. "So stop thinking you're the only one at fault!"

"Buzz off!" He turned bodily towards his best friend, chest heaving. "If I'd just told her to give up on that idea—"

"If we'd done that, Alice would be here. We didn't, so that's on the both of us," Eugeo whispered. "It's not just you."

Damn it… Damn it all. He'd tried so hard to bury this feeling inside of him, never forgetting (he didn't deserve that sort of luxury), if only because he didn't have to feel this vulnerable. It was too painful. It felt just like losing Alice all over again. And this singular moment was threatening to break that dam he'd tried so hard to keep up, emotion leaking through.

He'd tried so hard to avoid Selka, too afraid to actually face her because he was terrified what she would say. He'd gone so far as to avoid Uncle Orick and Auntie Sadina because that same fear had kept him at an arm's distance, knowing just how much they must have hated him for taking their daughter away.

And the worst part about all of this was how he felt as if he didn't have the right to be so upset about all of this.

He'd always known that Alice and Eugeo were close friends since birth. In fact, they'd known each other long before they knew Kirito; he met Eugeo when they were just about to be introduced to their calling. Afterwards, he got to know Alice, and it was some strange turn of events that the three of them ended up as close as they do now.

But he'd always known that Alice and Eugeo were meant to be friends together. He understood that.

And he ruined that.

It would have been fine if he'd been taken away. He was an orphan, after all; he had no connections, no family. Even if they'd arrested him, at least Eugeo and Alice would have each other, and their families would have them.

No one would have cried if he'd gone away.

"You're wrong!" His eyes widened at Eugeo's shout. He lifted his gaze to stare at his friend, taken aback by the sheer anger in those otherwise calm orbs. Even Selka and Charlotte looked off-put. "How could you think that?! Do you think we wouldn't care?!"

"Eugeo, I—"

"If you were taken away, Alice and I would have been saddened! You're our best friend! You'd think we'd be happier with you gone?!"

"…Fuck, Eugeo. I know you would, I do, but..!"

"And everyone else would be hurt as well! Did you forget, just how much everyone loved you? All the children in the church—they look up to you. You're their brother to them. If you'd just up and disappeared, they would be heartbroken," he shook his head, face scrunched. "Raiza. Eriana. Ilya. Yuka. Sana. Genji. Mary. Matthew. Eruna. Arfan. Corey."

Each name had him flinching even more, each face surfacing in his mind's eye, accompanied by a memory of a time he'd spent with them. Either eating together in the canteen, or when he'd been playing with the girls as some kind of knight and princesses, or when he'd been teaching them how to make one thing or another.

"Damn it… What the fuck, Eugeo..?"

"Everyone needs you here, Kirito. The kids at the church, Selka, me. We need you."

"And I know, if Onee-sama was here, she… she wouldn't blame you."

"You don't know that…"

"She wouldn't," she said again, sniffing. Her blue eyes looked into him with a gentleness that he didn't deserve. "And I don't too. No one does. You're our hero, Kirito… You saved us…"

He couldn't even muster the strength to say anything before the little girl hugged him again, this time a lot tighter than before. And this time, he found himself wrapping one arm around her to return the gesture, hating himself for wanting comfort. He gritted his teeth, trying to stare past his increasingly-watery vision before eventually breaking down crying.

He felt so exhausted. All that baggage he'd carried and attempted to hide deep within himself was now spilling out without a care, all as the sister of the girl he'd thought himself to have killed refused to despise him. It was too much.

Someone was beside him, and he couldn't tell who it was through the blur. The blond hair was tell-tale of his best friend, and just knowing he was here for him was making him cry harder.

Alice was his sin, and there was no undoing that. Even if everyone could have forgiven him—or hadn't even blame him for that to begin with—he'd carry her death to the grave, refusing to ever forget that day.

But at the very least, he had saved her sister. And he'd done his best to save so many other people. No one soul could ever weigh equal to another, but… well, at the very least, he did his best to prevent the deaths of others. And he knew he would try to do so for the many years to come.

Under the starlit sky, their hero cried in grief and in the company of his loved ones.

Author's Notes:

I think this was always a necessary point in the story. I'd always seen this as a moment where Kirito would eventually have to face Selka and buckle down for what would have been an incredibly vulnerable moment for him.

Personally, I'm unsure if Eugeo had ever had such a moment with Selka in the original timeline; where he, guilty over Alice's 'death', had confronted Selka before he left the village with Kirito and finally buried the hatchet. But regardless, it felt fitting here.

However, this wouldn't be the last time our protagonists will face such trials. After all, the world beyond Rulid awaits these two. It's time to move forwards.