Sword Art Online: X

Into the Dead of Night - Kirigaya Kazuto

I logged out of ALO and immediately sat up on my bed.

Asuna. 

X said that both Asuna and Sachi should be logged out by now. I immediately got up and grabbed my jacket.

I needed to see her. I need to make sure with my own eyes that X had succeeded.

I rode to the hospital where Asuna was being kept, ignoring the fact that it was way past visiting hours.

Suddenly, as I was riding, I got a call from X.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Kazuto, I'm just gonna tell you right now, Sugou is most likely going to try and intercept either you or me and try to kill us, just making sure you know to watch your back, you know?" His voice was slightly rushed and labored.

"... Hibiki, you're dealing with him right now, aren't you?"

"Oh, come on, you noticed right away? I was gonna mess with you for a bit. But, yes, I currently have Sugou in an armlock as he is trying to stab me with a kitchen knife. The police should be on their way soon, but if this guy continues to... piss... me... off..." I heard a few grunting and struggling sounds over the line, "I will have no choice but to take his knife and slit his throat with it and then claim justified self-defense in court. "

"Alright, well, you do what you need to do. I'm going to go see Asuna." I said into the phone, "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, talk to you tomorrow. I'm gonna deal with this guy, then I'll go check on Sachi. This motherfucker seriously deserves to die, though."

Click.

Well, I'm a little scared to imagine what Hibiki will do, especially considering the dude literally tortured Sugou in ALO, but I can't be thinking about that right now.

I need to focus on Asuna.

I arrived at the hospital and ran in, slipping past the nurses in the hallways and quickly entering Asuna's room, and there she was, sitting on her bed. Her silhouette casting a shadow in the light of the full moon outside her window.

"Asuna..." I whispered, "You're really here..."

She turned to me and smiled, "Of course, Kirito-kun. I was a bit unsure myself if X could succeed, but some faith in your friends can go a long way, can't it?"

I approached her bed, "How are you feeling?"

"A little fatigued and weak, but seeing as I've been in a coma for the past two and a half years, it's to be expected, isn't it?" She giggled.

Ah, that laugh. 

I missed that laugh the most.

...

It's been three months now, and Asuna has returned to real life. We've come back to school now.

Well, I say 'school', but really, it's more like an education rehabilitation center. It's a school that was opened specifically for the SAO survivors with accelerated learning courses so that we could catch up with our education. 

I sat down with Asuna on a solitary bench as she produced a basket filled with sandwiches.

Hibiki and Sachi were also with us, and we had a small picnic outside the school building. 

"Well, here's to the three-month anniversary of Asuna and Sachi returning from the game world. How are you two feeling? Rehab must've been hard." Hibiki announced, raising a juice box, "A toast to Asuna and Sachi's recovery?"

We all raised our respective juice boxes bumping them together, "Cheers!"

Hibiki sighed as he sipped on the straw, "Well, hopefully I won't have to hack into anymore game servers for a while. Anyways, good to have you two back!"

Sachi was still a little traumatized from her experience in Sugou's game world, but we were able to get Sugou arrested and his game shut down. Sachi was slowly getting better, but it's very difficult to recover from traumatic experiences.

Hibiki touched Sachi's arm, "Hey, are you alright now? The experience with... the sack of dicks... didn't traumatize you too much, did it?"

Sachi shook her head and smiled, "I'm working through it, and I know of my own triggers, so I just need to make sure I avoid some people for a while. This is why I like having friends I can trust."

Hibiki stayed silent and solemn, and eventually spoke up again, "You know, about the Moonlight Black Cats-"

I interrupted him, "It's not your fault, Hibiki, they died because they didn't listen to you, there's nothing you could've done about that."

Hibiki sighed, "I know, I know, but they were Sachi's friends! I could've done something, done everything, to keep them alive, but I didn't. What kind of older brother lets his ba- younger sister's friends die?"

Right, the word baby is one of Sachi's triggers.

Sachi took Hibiki's hands in hers, "Don't worry about it, nii-san, I'm over it now. You did your best for us, so now let me do my best for you, okay?"

Hibiki calmed down from his agitated state, "Alright, I'll let you do that."

Just about as suddenly as he went solemn, he cheered up again, "Anyway, enough of that doom-and-gloom shit, what about you, Kazuto? How've you and Asuna been? Any developments with your relationship?"

He smirked at us, knowing full well what happened that night at the hospital.

Asuna immediately looked away, blushing, but I stood my ground, even though my cheeks were also burning up, "Okay, first off, you don't do that. You just don't, second, honestly not much. We've been hanging out, but that's about it. Nothing more... extreme... than what happened that night."

He snickered, "Oh, I see how it is, you did the thing, didn't you?"

I remained silent, finally breaking eye contact with him.

His snickers evolved into howling laughter, "Oh, you did?! Holy shit, that's hilarious!"

He then turned to Asuna, "And you said no, right?"

Asuna smacked him, "Of course not, dumbass!"

Hibiki kept laughing, "Oh my god, it's too funny to tease you two."

I ended up smacking him too.

A/N: Well, that happened. I should be back to schedule now, hopefully.

Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, consider voting and following for more. Peace out, everybody. Goodbye.

Timeless_95, signing out.