Sword Apocalypse Online
Interlude: The Real World
"This is all my fault," Kouichirou Yuuki sighed, the young man at a support group for families caught up in the SAO event.
"You didn't make her decide to try your Nerve Gear," Midori Kirigaya told him gently. Her nephew and adopted son, Kazuto aka Kirito had died in the game.
Kouichirou sighed, "Still."
Rurika Shinozaki, mother of Rika aka Lisbeth nodded, "I mean, I could have forbid Rika from buying SAO. But who knew this would happen?"
Kouichirou nodded, patting her hand.
It had been over two months since the madman Kayaba had trapped everyone who was logged into Sword Art Online inside the VR game. In the first few days there had been various attempts to get the Nerve Gear helmets off, killing all involved. Then the users started dying again, apparently due to dying in the game itself...
"It's the waiting and wondering that drives me nuts," a young woman sighed, "will SOMETHING in the game kill my husband?"
"I wish there was some way to see what's happening in there," another man grimly agreed.
"All we can do is hold out hope," Ms Shinozaki said sadly.
The group split up, and as they cleaned up the meeting room Midori Kirigaya addressed Kouichirou, "How are your parents holding up?"
Kouichirou winced a little and said, "They're not doing well. Dad blames himself for not paying enough attention to us kids, and Mom feels like the whole mess is embarrassing the family."
"I'm sorry," Midori patted his arm. "Have they seen anyone?"
"I've tried to talk them into coming along to one of these meetings, but...," Kouichirou shrugged awkwardly.
"It's not for everyone," Midori agreed. "My daughter, Suguha, refuses to attend, and instead has thrown herself into kendo."
"I heard she's a regional champ," Kouichirou nodded.
"She's good," Midori sighed, "but she needs to have something more in her life than school and fighting..."
"We all cope in our own ways," Kouichirou agreed.
"See you next week," Midori said gently.
Not long after Kouichirou returned to the family home, taking off his shoes in the doorway as he called, "I'm home."
"Welcome home, sir," the maid smiled warmly. She added, "I'm afraid neither of your parents are home."
Kouichirou winced, "As expected..."
Like any good maid, she totally ignored that. "Your dinner is ready to eat whenever you wish," she added gently.
"I'm really not hungry," Kouichirou sighed.
She looked at him worriedly, "You need to eat, sir... Miss Asuna would be sad if she woke up and you were unwell."
Kouichirou puffed out a breath, "You fight dirty."
"Yes sir," she conceded willingly and lead him off to dinner...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Huph!" Suguha grunted with effort as the young woman swung the wooden sword.
She had been doing drills for nearly a hour, now, and her arms and shoulders ached. But it felt good, like she was accomplishing SOMETHING.
"Suguha.." a voice came from nearby.
Suguha spun around, pointing the bokken at the young man, who jerked in surprise.
"Whoa!" Shinichi Nagata yelped in surprise.
"Shin-kun," Suguha relaxed slightly, "what are you doing here?"
Shinichi and her weren't friends, exactly, but he was one of the few kids brave enough to approach her. Plus, he had a friend who had gotten trapped in SAO, so he at least sort of understood what she was going through.
"Teacher said you skipped school...," Shinichi said, adjusting his glasses.
"The Kendo Finals are coming up," Suguha said evasively.
"I know it feels weird in school, when everyone knows what happened to you brother, Kazuto," Shinichi said gently.
"You don't know anything," Suguha blurted angrily.
"Suguha..." Sbinichi started.
"Mom told me... he was my cousin. And I never KNEW, and now he's..." Suguha trailed off.
Sbinichi listened as she rambled on about the death of her aunt and husband, and how her parents had adopted him before she was born. He listened sympathetically as she wound down with a tired sigh.
"Thanks," Suguha finally sighed.
Sbinichi nodded, "Are you going to be okay?" He paused, "Sorry, that was a dumb question."
Suguha chuckled, if a bit weakly. "I'll manage, I think."
"And please stop skipping class," Sbinichi added.
Suguha made a rude gesture, but she was still smiling.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Doctor Kurahashi walked through the ward, stopping at the special isolation rooms for patients with comprimused immune systems. Due to illnesses like AIDS, they cound no longer fight off illnesses, and could die from a simple infection.
Two patients were hooked up to the medicuboid, a very advanced medical VR system. It was meant to entertain and stimulate the patients, as well as control pain... instead, it had trapped both women in the hellgame of Sword Art Online.
"I'm so sorry," Kurahashi sighed.
"You couldn't have known this would happen," Seijirou Kikuoka noted, the black haired man having arranged to meet him there.
Kurahashi said bleakly, "I knew the medicuboid was experimental..."
Seijirou Kikuoka looked in at Yuuki Konno and her sister and asked, "Do you think we could remove the device?"
"We studied the plans for the medicuboid, it has the same hidden microwave emitters as the NerveGear," Kurahashi answered bleakly.
Seijirou Kikuoka nodded, "I see. How is their health holding up?"
"Surprisingly well," Kurahashi admitted. "But they have their conditions, and the issues everyone else in SAO are facing."
Everyone in SAO was effectively in a coma, and there was a limit to how long you could be in that state before medical issues started to set in...
"How long do we have?" Seijirou Kikuoka asked.
"At best, two years..."
To be continued...
Note: Short update, I know. Meant to be longer, but I had a hard time coming up with canon characters out in the real world. There's a surprising lack of characters shown, other than Asuna and Kirito's families.