“Hup!”

I groaned pushing Toru’s foot up onto a higher ledge, she climbed up as she turned around and lent down a hand. I jumped and grabbed her arm as she pulled me up, struggling a little bit. I climbed up as we chuckled a bit, getting up from the ground and seeing the entrance to a cave dungeon.

“Alright, we’re here Toru”

I said to her as she replied “We sure are”, We then began walking across a ledge, slowly making our way to the other side. We both made it safe and sound as we jumped down and walked up to the entrance of the cave.

All of a sudden, I get a message notification, a wind chime sound. “What is it this time!” I was a little frustrated when I opened it and saw it was from Kirito. “That’s new…” I thought as I read his message in my head,

“Asuna and I are temporarily stationed at floor 22, you and Toru can come over and visit sometime”

I typed in “Sure, just give Toru and I some time and we’ll head out” as it was sent to Kirito. He was quick to respond as he sent a Thumbs up sticker, I swiped the menu away as Toru asked “Floor 22? Isn’t that the floor where we found that log cabin?”.

“Yeah, but we didn’t buy it since I was broke on COL.”

I said to Toru as she nodded, saying “Oh, Right..” I then walked into the cave dungeon as Toru quickly followed behind saying “Don’t leave me behind again!”. After a quick dungeon session with Toru, we began heading to floor 22.

We reached floor 22, looking around at the level 44-52 Monsters as we headed towards some coordinates that were given to us. We walked as I held a compass that showed us coordinates. We used the compass while aimlessly walking in certain directions to find the location.

As we walked I felt my hand being grasped, I turned around to see Toru holding my hand as I turned back to see the coordinates. We walked out of the forest and to a beautiful lakeside. We were amazed at the location and where the log cabin was placed.

I began to walk on the wood carved pathway to the log cabin ahead, Toru followed behind me as she looked towards the woods once again. As she looked into the depths of the forest, I felt my hand have immense resistance.

I stopped to look at her as I saw her face was in utter confusion towards the forest, “What is it?” I asked her confusedly as I looked down at the forest. “I…I thought I saw a little kid walking through the forest…” She said, almost as if she felt scared about the thought of it. “You mean like the ghost incident?” I said as she gripped my hand hard.

“Ow ow ow!!”

I winced in pain as she looked at me and said “Asuna said for us to NOT bring that up!!”. “I know I know but it’s just something that doesn’t seem possible!!” I said quickly, feeling the grip get ever so stronger every second.

“Kirin! Toru!!”

A voice shouted as we looked over as her death grip was loosened. We saw it was Kirito and Asuna at the top of the hill, waving to us, we waved back as my hand was still hurting.

We walked to them as they took us to their log cabin, we walked in as we saw the interior was completely different from the interior the log cabin on floor 2 had.

“This is a beautiful place to stay.”

I said as Toru agreed with me on that statement, Kirito and Asuna also agreed as Kirito said “Yeah, I’m surprised Heathcliff wanted us to stay here.”. My surprised expression then shifted to a smirk as I said “Speaking of Heathcliff…” with everyone looking at me confused. A second later, Kirito then realized saying “Don’t you dare-” as I brought up “WHAT’S WITH THE WHITE AND RED COAT!!”.

“I…I can explain that…”

Kirito said with one eyebrow twitching up and down, irritated. I bursted out laughing as I couldn’t hold in the laughter as I said “KIRITO! THE BLACK SWORDSMAN!! WEARING THE POLAR OPPOSITE COLORS!! AHAHAHAH!!!”. I fell to the floor dying from laughter as Kirito then shouted “I HAD NO CHOICE ALRIGHT! I WAS FORCED TO WEAR THIS DAMN COLOR SCHEME IT’S RIDICULOUS!!!”Asuna then commented “I think it looks great on you”.

“Of course you think it does YOU WEAR IT ALL THE TIME ASUNA!!”

He shouted as Asuna replied, being sassy and saying “And?”. This tipped Kirito’s pent up anger to the breaking point as he shouted on the top of his lungs

“I’M THE FUCKING BLACK SWORDSMAN NOT THE GODDAMN CRUSADER!! DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARASSING IT IS TO HAVE A TITLE SUCH AS THE BLACK SWORDSMAN BUT YOU’RE WEARING FUCKING RED AND WHITE!!! IT’S THE POLAR FUCKING OPPOSITE OF THE TITLE!!!”

Kirito was taking heavy breaths in and out as I kept dying on the floor about it, Asuna just turned her attention to Toru and did sign language, saying “Do you just wanna go take a walk while the boys do their thing?”.

Toru gave a thumbs up for her as they walked out on us, going to take a stroll around the lake. Meanwhile, Kirito and I began to calm down from our chaotic and out of character behavior. After 20-25 minutes, Asuna and Toru came back to the house to see Kirito and I were gone, “Where’d they go?” Asuna said, confused.

“I…don’t know actually”

Toru, confused as well, walked over to their balcony. Toru opened it as Asuna walked over and saw that both of them were just talking. “Should we-” Asuna said as she was abruptly interrupted by Toru’s hand covering her mouth as they both began eavesdropping on their conversation.

Kirito and I were chuckling a bit, as I asked him “what’d you do next?” as he replied “I fell and hit my head on the edge of a balcony”. “Ouch! And this ties to the ghost story right?” I wanted to confirm it as he nodded saying “Yeah, turns out they’re not ghosts, they used an exploit to use the death effects instead of the teleport effects by falling off a ledge and teleporting.”. I was amazed at this as I said “Really?! You can do that?!!” as Kirito nodded.

We both chuckled again as Kirito asked “well what about you Kirin? I’m sure you have some really good stories to tell me” as I looked off at the artificial sun, setting down.

“Yeah, but… most of my stories aren’t that great, Yours are amazing since they don’t sound true”

I said to him as he smiled replying “I’m sure you have one that’s great, c’mon tell me one”. I sighed a bit as I lightly bobbed my head up and down, saying “Alright, I have one, but don’t tell Toru.”. Kirito patted my back saying “Nothing gets out between us guys” as he smiled, I looked down and took a deep inhale and then exhaled.

“It was back on the first floor, I just got to Harunka village and took up the quest to get a certain sword. When it spawned, I rushed over to it and it’s one of the bigger mobs. It towered over me and It wasn’t an easy fight at the time, I was… sloppy… I wasn’t able to hit him for a lot of hp, but I had enough endurance and stamina to keep the fight going.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Eventually I managed to kill the monster, I was…Near-Death at that point… The sun began to set like this one, and I knew I was a goner. So I just let myself fall and slip into a deep sleep. But I wasn’t dead, I was saved mysteriously.. I then found out the day after that someone had left me coordinates to Tolbana’s coliseum, a couple days before the big raid.

When I got there I expected a man to have me repay him for saving my life. I won’t lie, I wasn’t expecting Toru to be the one who saved me… It…It was like love at first sight… She was brave, she was independent, she was courageous, and she was very charming… Something about her was very different from the other girls in this game.

And…it drew me like a fish on a reel… I was in-love with her from then on…”

I took a deep breath and exhaled once again, looking over at Kirito who was in tears. “Why are you crying?!” I was shocked as It was the first time I saw Kirito cry, “Its…Its so beautiful…the…the story was…just…beautiful…” he said sobbing as I opened my inventory and handed him a handkerchief.

He blew his nose into the handkerchief and he wiped his eyes, I then said to him “Don’t let her know about this, if she knew…I don’t know what I’d tell her then…”.

Meanwhile, Toru sat there, near the door slowly crying from hearing this. Asuna handed her a couple of tissues as she rubbed her tears away. The footsteps were heard going to the doorway as Asuna and Toru quickly ran towards the couches. We walked in as we saw them on the couches, “You guys were home already?” I said as I was confused.

“Uh huh!”

Asuna replied as I saw Toru and her eyes, a little red as they looked at the time. “We better get going” I said to Kirito turning to him as he nodded, saying “Thanks for stopping by”. “No problem Kirito, anytime” as we fist bumped each other.

I swiped down my menu and equipped my armor, my jacket and armor materializing onto me. I looked at Toru who was laying on the couch, lending my hand out to her saying “Ready to leave?”. She looked at my hand as she sat up, grabbing her hand smiling and trying to hold back tears nodding.

I pulled her up and onto her feet, I looked at Kirito and Asuna as I waved goodbye to them. They waved back as we exited out of the log cabin, walking down the hill and following the path. The moon was in the skies as the lake’s water reflected the stars. We walked along the path, silent as we took in the view of the lake.

“Kirin..”

Toru said as I slightly turned my head, hearing her out. She then looked over to me saying “Are…Are the things that you said about me…true..?” as she felt conflicted about my statement earlier. I stopped, she looked at me as she felt her heart drop. I took a second to say something as I turned around holding her hand, pulling her in and hugged her. “Yeah…every word…” I said to her as she just began tearing up again.

“You’re very courageous… It inspires me and all others to continue living…It’s a trait that made me fall for you…”

I whispered to her as she smiled, feeling warmth and closure, she replied to me “I know…you’re a kind person…You just have a hard time showing it…”.

I smiled holding out a teleportation crystal, whispering “Floor 75” as we both teleported to Floor 75. Three days passed since we met Kirito and Asuna on floor 22, Toru and I were strolling through a runned-down city as Toru got a message. I kneeled down to pick up some mushrooms as I looked over to Toru, quickly putting away the mushrooms and asked her “What is it?”.

“Asuna just messaged me, they’re heading down towards floor 1.”

I became somewhat dumbfounded upon hearing “Floor 1”. I asked her “Uh… Say that again?” as she repeated “Asuna and Kirito are heading down to floor 1”. “Oh okay, so I wasn’t going insane after hearing that” I said to her straight up as she tilted her head confused.

“Why are they going back down there?”

I said to her as I opened my inventory and drank out of a flask. “The leader of Aincrad Liberation Force was found down there, apparently there’s a secret dungeon down there” she said as I spat out my water and coughed holding my neck. “WHAT!” I shouted on the top of my lungs as I ran up to her.

I grabbed her by her shoulders saying “TELL THEM WE’LL MEET THEM AT THE TOWN OF BEGINNINGS!!!” as I scurried to pull out my teleportation crystal. “Ahem” Toru said as I turned and she held one, I felt stupid after my scurry as I walked to her and held her hand a little embarrassed.

“Floor 1, Town of beginnings!”

She shouted a bit as I looked at her saying “Wait you can-” as my sentence was cut off by us teleporting to the Town of Beginnings. “-Specify?” I said as we got to the Town of Beginnings, she looked over and replied “Yeah, you didn’t know that?” as she walked ahead. “Of course I didn’t know!” I shouted a little, catching up to her as we walked over to an orphanage.

I looked at the Orphanage sign feeling uneasy as I said to her “Are you sure we’re at the right place..?”. “Yes, these are the coordinates Asuna sent me” Toru said to me as she walked in, I followed behind her as we saw a bunch of children playing and having fun in the area.

“Good god it’s like World War Three in here…”

I thought to myself bracing myself as we walked through what was a play section of the orphanage. Asuna waved as we looked and walked over towards her. “Good to see you guys made it safely” Asuna said as Toru replied “Yeah, we have crystals on us all the time”.

I looked at the table as there was the Orphanage caretaker, Asuna, Kirito, the 2nd in command of Aincrad Liberation Force Yulier, and a small girl with long black hair and gray eyes. “Hey Kirito?” I asked him as he turned his attention to me, “Who’s kid is that?” I said pointing at the strange little girl sitting at the same table as us.

“Oh her, Her name is Yui”

Kirito said as Asuna turned to look at us with a smug face, Kirito instantly knew that face as he said “Don’t you dare say it..”. Toru and I were confused as Asuna said “She’s our child Kirito! Admit it!”, Kirito replied “No! I didn’t agree to having a child we JUST MET TWO DAYS AGO!!”.

“SHE’S YOUR CHILD?!!!”

Both Toru and I shouted in shock as Kirito shook his head shouting “NO! SHE IS NOT OUR CHILD!!”. After things settled down Kirito then said “Let me just tell you what happened two days ago.”.

Kirito then began explaining their situation in a summary,

“After you guys left, Asuna and I spent the night at the log cabin. Asuna woke up to Yui being in her bed and she woke me up, at the time we didn’t know her name until Asuna had the bright idea of naming her Yui. We decided to come here to give her to the caretaker until Yulier showed up then explained the secret dungeon here and then you two showed up.”

“Oh, damn we were really sold on Yui here being your child”

I said to him as Toru nodded as he shouted “FOR FUCK SAKES SHES NOT MY GODDAMN CHILD!!”.

“Papa? Why are you shouting at them..?”

Yui said in a saintly innocent voice as Toru and I couldn’t hold in the urge to awe. “Listen honey we’re just communicating, papa’s very busy” Kirito said trying to be nice as I couldn’t hold in the laughter. He pointed at me saying in an irritated tone “Laugh and your head is coming off Kirin”.

“So… What was it about this secret dungeon Yulier?”

Asuna said as we turned our attention to Yulier, she then took in a deep breath saying “Our guild leader, Thinker, went missing a couple days ago but we couldn’t find a trace of where he went. I went to find the strongest players I could contact, which were you four”.

We all looked at each other confused and we looked at Yulier again, she then went on saying “I think that Thinker could be down in this secret dungeon, I had to buy information off Argo the rat, and she said that Thinker bought information off of her about a dungeon underneath Blackiron palace..”.

“Not Blackiron…”

I thought to myself as I said “Why not go there now” as I surely didn’t seem happy about going to Blackiron palace. “That’s a great Idea! Let’s head out immediately!” Yulier shouted happily as Kirito and Asuna got up.

We all began heading out as we waved goodbye to the caretaker, heading to Blackiron Palace. We walked over to the entrance as we opened the doors and headed downstairs. We heard all kinds of commotion downstairs as we held about 300 PKers in the facility.

“I never thought I’d be down here again…”

I thought to myself as the PKers down here ran to the iron bars, shouting “WHY ARE YOU HERE!!” Towards Kirito and I. We ignored them until we walked towards the Laughing Coffin members and their cells.

I looked at them and they looked back at me, passing by. I had a face of disgust while looking at them as some of them smirked, saying “Well isn’t it nice seeing a familiar face around here”. “Hey, Don’t listen to them Kirin” Toru said as I sighed and walked ahead.

We then reached a double door, pushing on it and noticing that the door wasn’t locked.

“Didn’t argo say the door was locked?”

I asked Yulier, she replied “Yeah, I don’t know why it’s not locked- Oh my god…” she said as she realized it. I looked at her and then it also hit me, Thinker was still alive if a locked entrance is still unlocked. “He must still be alive down here!” I shouted as we hurried down the descent down the stairs.