Sword Art Online: Phantom Reaper || SAO OC

57 - Look into the Past

February 2nd 2026 - 7:11pm

Niko sat in his car waiting at a red light. He was on his way home from the hospital where - just like he did every day - he visited his comatose brother.

His phone rang and he answered, connecting it to the car's Bluetooth system. A moment later he heard Shino's voice come through the speakers.

"Hey Niko. Are you free right now?"

The light turned green and Niko began to drive off. "I'm driving home right now but I don't really have anything going on tonight. What's up?"

"I was hoping you could help me with a quest tonight. If you don't mind anyway."

"Do you even need to ask? Is it another GGO quest?"

"No, it's in ALO. There's a cave Kirito and I found that apparently has a rare lightweight bow I've been wanting to get."

Niko smiled at Shino's enthusiasm "I should've figured. Alright, I'll be there. Just give me... let's say 20 minutes okay?"

Shino took a moment to respond, sounding a little bit flustered since she didn't actually expect him to accept so easy "R-Right. But you know, you don't have to rush over if you want you to get your other stuff done you know."

"It's okay." Niko replied with a small chuckle "I'd rather spend the night with you than do anything else really."

__________

February 2nd 2026 - 7:44pm

"You're a bad liar you know?" Sinon said as she scrolled through her menu. She was exploring a maze-like cave with Nyx who she walked closely with.

"What part of it's a lie exactly?"

"You haven't been taking good care of yourself lately. Even now I can see how exhausted you are."

Nyx scratched his head nervously not wanting to admit that she was right. After SJ he could barely sleep, unable to get what he learned about Pitohui and his own reputation out of his mind.

Until that point, GGO was the one place he could go where the shadow of the Reaper did not follow him. Now his past seemed to threaten him once again, with someone else potentially reviving the horrors of that death game.

He shook his head, pushing his thoughts aside. "I'm fine, really. Just a little tired."

"Don't you think you should ease up a little?"

Nyx shrugged his shoulders "I can't. I need to keep up with my classes, so skipping school isn't an option-"

"Then what about your jobs?" Sinon interrupted him and he shook his head.

"Can't do that either. I mean helping Kikuoka with the SAO and Death Gun stuff is a part-time gig so that's fine, but working for my cousin isn't something I can get out of. Well I could, but I kinda owe him a lot so I don't really think I can."

Sinon sighed and gave him a disapproving glance "There you go again."

"What do you mean?"

"You always say things like 'I owe them'. Why do you do that?"

Nyx fell silent for a moment as the two of them continued walking. He didn't really have an answer for that. In fact, he didn't realize that he said it that much.

"I don't know. I just feel like I have to repay all of you... for sticking around me after everything."

"So was it like that when I asked for your help today?"