The Black Swordsman

Chapter 5: You Idiot

1 Year Earlier:

Kazuto's younger sister, Suguha Kirigaya, sat in a chair next to her older brother's hospital bed, as he laid in it, looking extremely frail and malnourished. She studied the strange device on his head that the doctor had called a nerve gear with her dark grey eyes and frowned.

"It's just a stupid helmet with wires", she commented. "Why can't someone just take it off of him?"

She sighed, remembering what the doctor had told her.

If we, forcefully, remove the nerve gear from his head, it will result in his immediate death. The only thing we can do right now is treat him like he's in a coma, just like the rest of those that are trapped. We'll keep him as nourished and hydrated as we can manage but it won't be much since there's so many people in your brother's situation as well.

"Fucking liars. He doesn't look nourished at all...I haven't seen him so skinny and pale in his entire life. He looks like he's barely surviving."

Suguha heard footsteps approaching and turned to realize that it was her mother, Midori Kirigaya, who had the same black hair and grey eyes as her daughter. She sat down in the seat next to Suguha and watched Kirito as well.

"How's he doing?" she asked, sadly.

"The same...I guess...isn't there any way for the doctors or nurses to feed him more? He looks terrible."

Midori shook her head, no.

"Unfortunately, the doctors said that they only have so much to go around and you have to remember that Kazuto isn't the only one suffering right now. We just need to be happy that he's stable. There's already...been a lot of people who have died so it's a miracle that he's still hanging on. I can't even imagine what he's going through right now."

"Their brains...were fried, right?" asked Suguha, remembering a rumor she heard at her school about that being the way that people wearing the nerve gear would die.

"Yes. When...they die inside of whatever Virtual World that they're in...their brains in the real world get fried, immediately. What a sick man that Kayaba is. If I had the chance, I would—"

Suguha wasn't used to seeing her mother so angry. She was usually such a kind and quiet woman but Suguha could feel the frustration and anger radiating off of her mother.

"Do you remember how excited Kazuto was when I pre-ordered his nerve gear and copy of Sword Art Online for him?" asked Midori. "Every time we ate dinner, until that silly thing arrived at our house, the only thing he would talk about was Sword Art Online...never about school...or friends...or anything else...just Sword Art Online. But that was okay. Because, it was so rare for me to see him actually show so much passion and interest in something. It was one of the very rare times that I saw him smile. I was so excited for him to play the game when it arrived. I-I never imagined it would end up being something that would cause him so much pain. He must be so frightened right now and alone and there's nothing I can do about it."

Suguha didn't understand the nerve gear or the VR (Virtual Reality) world as much as her mother did. Midori was an editor for a computer and robotics magazine so she was very familiar with the technology that was on her brother's head and understood it's innerworkings. It didn't seem to help put her mind at ease, though. If anything, it made her mother more upset.

"Is...dad going to visit Kazuto, today?" asked Suguha.

"He's not feeling too well, today. He had to take off from work and hasn't left his room all day. I'm really worried about him. He's been taking all of this really hard. He has a tough time understanding Kazuto and his interests but he does really care about him."