The Lightning Flash

Chapter 20: Aftermath

Damn, I spawned out of the match before I could cut the bastard down, I cursed to myself, after returning to the dark room, where I was, before starting my first Bullet of Bullets match. For a first match, that was a hell of a lot to deal with...more than I was hoping for. POH showing up at the very end only made things more difficult. What the hell is his end game or does the delusional asshole even have one? Does he just like fucking with me?

I shook my head clear of these thoughts, knowing that they weren't going anywhere. I needed to find Asuna and Shino to see if they ran into any trouble like I did. I was hoping that they didn't, especially Asuna, who'd already been through enough. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn't know how much more she could, mentally, take. Sure, Asuna was strong. Probably, the strongest person I knew but...still, she was just a high school girl. She deserved to be happy, free from all of this VR bullshit but, no matter how much the two of us seemed to try, we always ended up getting roped back into some kind of conflict. I just couldn't wrap my mind around why this was? Why couldn't the two of us just live a normal, happy life with one another? Could this...have been my punishment? For some of the fucked-up things that I did in the base SAO game and...for what I did to Sugou? It was the only thing I could think that made moderate sense to me. One day, I really hoped that Asuna and I both could live in peace, alongside Yui and our friends. But, now wasn't that time. We were both in danger and wouldn't be out of it until Death Gun and POH were both dealt with. As soon as they were, we could, potentially, begin that happy life with one another which was the thing that motivated me to keep pushing forward.

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I had been searching the lounge area of the Tower of Peace for what felt like a couple of minutes and I couldn't find Asuna or Shino, causing me to begin to worry.

Maybe, their matches took longer than mine? I thought to myself, trying to prevent myself from dreading the worst-case scenario.

Finally, in the corner of my eye, I saw that a familiar girl with light blue hair was making her way towards me.

"Sinon?" I asked, my mind a little bit more at ease.

The look on her face seemed grim until a few seconds after I greeted her. She looked at me and forced a smile.

"Oh, hey Kirito, how did your first match go?" she asked.

"It was...stressful, to say the least," I answered, honestly. "At least, I won, though."

"Same here."

A part of me wanted to ask Shino the specifics of her match and explain to her what transpired during mine but I knew it wasn't the right time and place. Plus, I needed to find Asuna, first.

"Sinon, have you seen Asuna, anywhere? I've been looking for her, ever since I spawned back here but haven't seen her."

Shino's expression went back to being grim as she shook her head, no.

"That's worrisome. I haven't seen her, either. I'm pretty sure that I heard all of the first-round matches were over so she should be here, somewhere. Do you want to split up and look for her?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agreed. "Thanks, Sinon."

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Meanwhile, Asuna was alone in the girl's locker room, her hands covering her ears and her whole body trembling, still shaken from her confrontation with Death Gun, who had forced her to kill a girl, who was trying to earn money for her sick sister. She felt sick to her stomach and if Asuna wasn't in a VR world, it wouldn't have surprised her if she threw up. She hunched over, staring at the floor of the locker room, still shaking.