When the day came, I leaned on the coliseum door and waited, word spreaded through KoB reaching out to the public. I waited and waited, looking at my message I sent to Toru, “Are you okay?” my message said, no reply. I stared at the messages as I took a deep breath, exhaling out thinking to myself “No holding back then…”.
I pushed myself back up from the wall as I heard the door open. As the door opened I walked out and was surrounded by maybe thousands of people, I looked around for a bit before walking to the center of the coliseum.
I looked forward and looked at Kirito, he lent out a hand to me saying “No hard feelings?”. I looked at the hand and shook it. I didn’t want to be rude to him as I replied “No hard feelings Kirito…”. I swiped down and opened my menu, scrolling to dual wield as I was going to tap it.
I then noticed a blinking skill as I never saw such a feature in the game before. I scrolled down slightly and tapped it, equipping it as it equipped only one sword. I then got the duel from Kirito, with the first hit condition. I accepted the duel as the timer began to countdown. The countdown began counting from 60 seconds as the crowd began to count as well. I pulled out my sword but didn’t feel another sword to grab. I was confused as I sighed, thinking to myself “Well… I’ll give it my all then…” I thought and got ready. The countdown kept going, “3… 2… 1… 0!”.
Kirito rushed in and began swinging his dual wielded swords, I dodged swiftly and blocked around, noticing a significant difference. I ducked under a swing and counter swung, hitting a hard swing and threw Kirito back a bit. He landed on his feet as I opened my palm, I then saw a scroll wheel appear on my hand, having 8 different icons on it.
I stopped to look at it as Kirito blitzed towards me, I swiped my hand in a panic as a greatsword materialized in my hand, feeling the weight I dropped to one side and barely dodged Kirito’s diagonal swing.
“What happened?”
I thought as I saw the greatsword in my hand, I lifted the sword up as I struggled slightly, getting the tip of the blade stuck in the ground. “What was that?” Kirito said, confused as I didn’t know either, I then opened my palm again and saw the same scroll wheel and the same icons, but with one Icon glowing.
I saw the Greatsword Icon glowing as it clicked in my head, the scroll wheel was a unique skill itself. I then rotated my hand around a bit and saw one part of the wheel pop up and then switched to another pop up.
I selected the dagger Icon as the greatsword shattered and my dagger materialized in my hand. “Woah…” I thought as I looked at it curious until I realized I was still in a duel. Kirito swung and I barely blocked it, having a small piece of my hair cut off from it.
“Alright, let’s try this new skill!”
I said as I stepped back and tried swinging back at Kirito, he dodged the sword as we kept trying to hit each other. We kept dodging and blocking sword and dagger swings. The sounds of metal weaponry hitting each other almost made itself into a rhythm.
Every swing, every attempt to hit each other was something that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. We had 2o seconds remaining as we kept trying to hit each other but due to our even levels from the duel, we were evenly matched in skill and in our ability to fight.
10 seconds remained as we swung and we clashed, two swords to one. “This has been fun but it’s time to wrap this up!” Kirito said confidently as I saw a glimmer of gold in his eyes, That caught me off guard as he broke through my guard.
“GAME OVER!!”
Kirito shouted as he swung down and I quickly shifted my arm to block the hit. My hp dropped to zero as the timer stopped at 2 seconds. My HP shot back up to green as the duel was over. I smiled a bit softly as I patted his shoulder. “Good fight” I told him as he replied “Same here, great fight”.
We both smiled as I grabbed his wrist and raised it up. The crowd was cheering as I let go of his wrist and turned my attention to Heathcliff, who was sitting at a high viewpoint. I began to walk towards the exit as I pushed the doors open, I walked through and sat down on a bench.
I swiped down and checked messages, clicking Toru’s name and seeing if she responded. There was no response. I teared up slightly as I wiped it from my eyes trying to not show myself being vulnerable.
“She hasn’t gotten back to you yet has she?”
Sato said as he just arrived to check on me, “No..” I replied doubting the possibility. “I’m sure there will be something that will bring you both together.” Sato said as he sat down beside me, I swiped away my menu as I leaned my back onto the stone wall.
I took a couple of deep breaths as I didn’t know what to do, I then heard the crowd cheering as Heathcliff and Kirito began their fight. I didn’t feel like watching so I asked Sato “What about you and Neo?”. Sato chuckled a bit saying “We’re still getting along Kirin, I’m sure of it” as I chuckled a bit.
“Have you thought of proposing to her?”
I said to him as he shook his head, pulling out a small box from his inventory. He opened it to uncover a diamond ring in the box, he smiled and said “Maybe in the real world, I’ll propose to her…” I looked at him in silence, unable to say anything that would help him.
I mustered up courage as I patted his back, he looked at me as I told him “Go tell her right now, I’m sure that she’ll understand” Sato looked at me as he closed the case and smiled a bit in tears. He hugged me saying “Thanks man… I wouldn’t be here without you…”. I took those words into consideration as it clicked for me, “Alot of people wouldn’t be in our situation if it wasn’t for us… the people who’ve taken the front charge…”.
I patted his back again, saying “No problem, Anything to help our cause…” as he then lets go of the hug and cleans himself up, wiping his tears. Sato got up and waved goodbye, rushing around the corner and headed towards the seats above. I then heard a wind chime sound, my heart began to speed up as I quickly checked my messages, It was a response from Toru.
“Please meet me at these coordinates”
The message said, but underneath the text was coordinates. I quickly got up and ran through the exit of the coliseum and headed out towards the fields. I ran with everything I had and kept running towards the coordinates. I jumped over chasms and ravines, slayed monsters in my way and maneuvered around trees and open fields.
Finally I reached the coordinates, seeing a Cherry Blossomed Tree along with a Torii Gate in-front of it. Beside the cherry tree was where she sat, looking off towards the distant lands. The wind began blowing again as I walked towards the Torii Gate, it was colored red with it’s black top.
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I took a deep breath, walking through the gate’s entrance as the world around us warped into a whole different world. I stood amazed as I looked back, now seeing that it was a staircase leading down along with more Torii gates.
I looked down at myself and saw I was in my school outfit, seeing my bag dangling on my side, I looked up to see Toru as I saw that she was also in a school outfit. “Toru..?” I said a little scared and a little nervous, She turned around as I finally got to see what she looked like in the real world. Her hair was silky brown instead of her white hair, her eyes were bright blue instead of brown and she had earrings.
She saw what I also looked like as well, My hair being jet black, eyes being brown and having a scar on my nose. We did nothing but look at each other, stunned. I snapped out of it as I walked over to her, sitting down beside her. “I…I…we…” I stuttered, I couldn’t find the words to speak as she smiled a little saying “It’s beautiful isn’t it..”.
I looked at her as she stared off towards the town of Kyoto. I looked and saw the town wasn’t too far as well, I smiled saying “Yeah…It really is beautiful…” as I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to her. I looked at her and stared at her, she then looked at me confused, saying “what is it?”. I looked away stuttering “I…It’s nothing I…” I kept stuttering and fumbling on my words. I then took a deep breath and looked at her, saying “I’m…Sorry, for everything…”.
I wasn’t smiling, I really meant it as I now realized how my recklessness and actions had affected her. She also noticed I didn’t smile, slowly tearing up as I reached my hand out to her eyes and wiped her tears. I softly told her “I…I now know why you chose to have a break from me…and…I’m really sorry…” she sniffled and tried to keep herself from crying more as I scooted towards her and wiped the tear away from her other eye.
“I…I…”
Toru stuttered, unable to talk from sniffling and sobbing. “You don’t need to apologize..” I told her softly again, as she looked at me. “I am the one who needed to apologize, You’ve been there for me ever since…It’s my responsibility to keep myself and our relationship on track…” I told her as she just looked at me and she put her hand on my hand. I moved my hand onto hers and pulled her in, letting her lean onto my chest, she felt the warmth once again.
I smiled softly, Toru then asked me “What…What’s your real name..?” as I looked at her. “It’s Ryushin… Fukumoto Ryushin” I told her with confidence, I then asked her “What’s your name..?”. “It’s Kanao, Gushiken Kanao” she replied with a small smile as I replied “I like your name”. She smiled with a small blush as a message came in from sato, i opened it as Sato sent “Heathcliff won”.
I swiped it away as I didn’t care about the deal I had with Heathcliff, I just wanted to stay with Toru. She smiled, still leaning on me as I smiled as well, I then told her “Do you think it’s alright if we got back together..?” I was a little nervous about it.
She didn’t respond as I looked at her, noticing that she dozed off. I smiled and kissed her forehead, I didn’t want to wake her up as I sat there and stared off towards the town of Kyoto.
About Six Hours went by as we were both sleeping, I woke up first as I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I looked to the side to see she was sleeping on my arms as we were both lying down. I turned and poked her cheek noticing her reaction was to smack it away, I then poked her cheek a bit more as she kept trying to smack it away.
She then began to open her eyes as I smiled and said” Morning sleeping beauty” as she chuckled.
“How long was I sleeping…?”
Toru asked me confused as I took some thought of it, saying “I don’t know either, I also fell asleep”. We both sat up and got up from the ground, seeing the time. “We slept for about 3 to 4 hours together” I told her as we got up and walked towards the Torii Gate. Toru exited first as I stopped in-front of it, I turned around to look at Kyoto for one last time. I muttered “I will take Toru here one day…” as I turned around and exited the Torii Gate.
Just like that, our SAO Avatars returned, I looked at her and smiled, holding my hand out to her. Toru smiled, grabbing my hand and said “I kinda miss holding your hand” as I flustered up a little. “T-thanks..” I said quietly, She smiled and she pulled out a teleport crystal.
We both teleported to the telepad that was on the floor, I looked around as we headed over to the housing department. “Where are we going?” I asked her confused as she said “To my house of course.” with a happier tone this time. “Oh, You own a house?” I said stupidly oblivious, She stopped as I stopped, looking at me with a pouting face.
As Oblivious as I was, I was scratching my head about it as we began heading towards her house. Toru and I walked to the front door, she opened it as it was sparkling clean in the house. I walked in as the house automatically took off my boots when I stepped foot inside. It left my shoes to the side on the inside of the house, as I walked into her living room.
Her living room was small but it was big enough to house at least another person. I sat down on her couch as I thought to myself “I’m having the weirdest feeling of Dejav-” as I looked at her and my mind went blank.
She changed out into her clothes that were more casual, seeing that her shirt was more loose and she wore actual shorts that went just above her knee. I just stared at awe, forgetting about my train of thought and slipped into a daydream.
“Kirin? Kirin?? Earth to Kirin!”
She said as I snapped out of it, She then said “What would you like to eat?” as I stuttered and flopped on my words “I-I-uh-maybe-I-” as my face was really red and I couldn’t contain my nervousness. It felt like my brain went on emergency power as I said “M-m-maybe something you- I MEAN!-” as I got up trying to explain.
She smiled and kissed my cheek, saying “something like me huh? You dirty boy, I’ll cook up some ragout stew then”. My face was extremely red at this point as I quickly ran to the guest room shouting “I-I’M GOING to CHANGE!!” as she just kept cooking.
I sat down and had a nervous breakdown as I swayed my feet left to right, trying to calm down. After 15 minutes, I eventually calmed down and walked out to the kitchen.
I saw Toru had been waiting patiently for me, I looked and saw the food as she said “the good thing about virtual food is that it never gets cold.”. I nodded as I pulled out a chair and sat down in it, I picked up my plate of rice as Toru gently put her hands together. I looked at her as she said in Japanese “Thank you for the food”, before she picked up her plate.
I took a little bit of thought into it as I set my plate down, doing the same thing and saying in Japanese “Thank you for the food” but sounding a little off. Toru was watching me as she smiled and said “That was better than last time” as I nodded and began to eat.
Toru opened the lid as if it was the Ragout rabbit stew. My eyes glared up as I grabbed the latel and scooped some of the stew into a bowl. I looked at the bowl as I was reminded of Rina’s words.
“My Favorite food is Ragout Rabbit Stew, Everytime I eat it…It fills me with joy and it makes me feel motivated to keep going…”
“Kirin? You alright?”
Toru asked me as I was unconsciously crying, I touched my cheek and felt my tears as I was visibly confused. “H…Huh..?” I stuttered as I said “Why…Why am I…Crying..?” as I wiped my tears away. Toru got up and walked over to me, hugging me from behind saying “Is it Rina again..?”.
I felt conflicted once again as I told her the truth “Y…Yeah…I…-” as she just hugged a little tighter. I looked at her confused as she was facing away from me, I noticed this about her as I put my hand on her head saying “Toru…I love you…” as she turned her head towards me.
Without a second to say anything, she told me “I love you too…” as she kissed me, I kissed back, closing my eyes and feeling relieved. She lets go of the kiss as she tells me “you’re putting too much pressure on yourself… just relax a bit…”. I haven’t thought about that, taking some time to relax and settle down. I had the mindset of clearing the floors to leave the place, Then it hit me, it was the reason why Toru and I parted ways in the first place.
“I think you’re right…I need some time for myself..” I said lightly, She smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the chair and we walked over to her bedroom.
“Where are we going?-”
I said as My mind clearly recognized what was going to happen, Toru stopped and turned to me, saying “Too much stress will have an impact on you”.
She pulled me into her room as she closed the door and locked the front and her bedroom door. A full day passed after that meal I didn’t eat, I layed in her bed as she was cuddling underneath my arm, sleeping soundfully. Her hair was messy as it was all over the place, I turned to look at her, smiling and kissing her forehead.
She waved her hand a bit trying to make it stop as she groaned a bit, I looked up at the ceiling and thought to myself “Maybe I should settle down… Toru…makes me really happy…”. I sat up as I realized she had nothing underneath the blanket, I put the blanket on her as I equipped my casual clothes.
I sat on the edge of the bed, rethinking my mistakes and oftenly looking back at Toru, who was sleeping soundfully. I smiled looking at her, Thinking,
“I don’t want you to ever leave my side…I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive Toru…I…I love you…”