The Lightning Flash

Chapter 29: Piecing Things Together

Every day...every...single day...she looks so much worse, thought Kiko to herself, looking at her younger sister through the door of her bedroom that was left wide open.

Honoka had fallen asleep and forgot to shut her bedroom door, first, which was a common occurrence, lately.  Kiko's sister, who was once full of enough energy for the both of them, spent most of her days, lately, in her bed, sleeping, because of her illness.  It was heartbreaking for Kiko to see her sister in such a state.  She knew that her sister needed the rest but also, knew that Honoka probably hated having to sleep the time that she had left away, instead of spending it with Kiko and their mother.  Speaking of Kiko's mother, she had been working even longer hours in an attempt to earn enough money for Honoka's treatment. Kiko blamed herself for this.  If she had been strong enough to win the Bullet of Bullets tournament, then her mother wouldn't have to be working so hard in order to save enough money to help get Honoka her treatment.  If only Kiko hadn't run into the "Lightning Flash" in the very first round...if only her luck had been better. She had already told Honoka what had happened in the first round of the Bullet of Bullets and Kiko's sister completely ignored all of Kiko's apologizing for losing and, rather, focused on the part about meeting Asuna.  Honoka wanted to know every single detail of Kiko's fight with her, in addition to what Asuna, herself, was like.  Kiko was honest with her answer and explained that Asuna was just as tough as Honoka would expect but...kind as well.  Kiko recalled that Asuna was willing to forfeit the match and let her win, after learning what Kiko was fighting for.  If it hadn't been for that man in the black cloak threatening Kiko's life, then Asuna would have never finished Kiko off like she did.  Kiko didn't know much about the man with the black cloak but could tell that whoever he was...he was strong enough to scare the toughest player that Kiko had fought, up to that point.  Of course, Kiko didn't blame Asuna for what she did, especially when the player in the black cloak was threatening Kiko's life.  She knew that Asuna did what she did so Kiko would get another chance to see her sister...and her mother, for that matter.  In a way, Kiko owed Asuna for saving her life.  She just wished that she could have the chance to thank her in person. 

"I'm sorry, Honoka," apologized Kiko, quietly, so she wouldn't wake her sister.  "I tried so hard to win but...I failed.  The pain and suffering you're going through, right now...it's my fault.  It's all my fault.  I'm...a failure as a sister." 

Not wanting to risk waking Honoka up, Kiko shut her sister's door as quietly as she could and walked away from the bedroom.  Kiko's mother wasn't home, yet, because of the long hours that she was working so Kiko was alone with Honoka.  Neither of the girls had eaten, yet, but Kiko didn't feel like munching on anything.  She found that, lately, she lacked her usual appetite and the same was true of her sister but for different reasons.  Honoka didn't eat as much because of her illness while Kiko didn't eat because her own disappointment in herself made her feel so sick to her stomach that it prevented her from wanting to eat anything.  It upset her mother that neither of her children were eating properly but she was too busy with work to force it. 

"Even though, I don't want to eat anything, I should still cook something for Honoka," Kiko told herself while standing in the kitchen.  "She needs the nutrition whether she wants it or not.  Unfortunately, I'll have to wake her up but it should be fine since she's been sleeping most of the day.  Although, she'll probably get mad at me for waking her up.  Haha.  I guess that wouldn't be too bad, though.  Her getting annoyed with me gives me the opportunity to see my sister act like her old self a little."

Just as Kiko was going to begin cooking her sister dinner, she heard a knock on the front door of the house.  Kiko made her way to the front door of the home and checked the peek hole to see who it was, before opening it.  Her mother had always taught Kiko to be cautious of strangers, especially when her mother wasn't around.  To her surprise, the person, who had knocked, wasn't a stranger at all.  In fact, Kiko recognized who it was, instantly.  It was the "Lightning Flash"...the same player she had fought in the Bullet of Bullets, standing at her front door, looking exactly the same as she did in the VR world of GGO.  So many questions were racing through Kiko's mind such as what Asuna was doing at her home and how she had learned what her address was?  Kiko decided to push these thoughts to the back of her mind and opened the front door of her home.