Sword Art Online: New Reality (REWRITTEN)

Final Chapter - Aftermath

I woke up to a beeping monitor, I looked around as I coughed a bit and weakly took off the Nervegear. "I'm...Home...?" I thought as I heard the door open and saw the person who walked in. It was my mom, she dropped a vase of flowers as she covered her mouth in shock.

"M...Mom...?"

I weakly muttered as I turned my head towards the window, I saw the sun outside as all my memories of SAO hit me. "K...Kirin..!" I said as I tried to sit up, "Honey don't move too much!" My mother said to me as she tried to calm me down.

"M-Mom...Where's Kirin..!"

I said to her as she asked me confused "Who's Kirin?" as I looked at her. "R..Ryushin...Where's...Ryushin..!" I asked her as she said "Stay here, I'll ask around honey" as she left quickly. I looked at the side of the medical bed as I pushed it down, I then tried to climb out of the bed as I slipped and fell down onto the hard floor. I cried out in pain as it hurt immensely from hitting the floor, "C'mon...You can get yourself back up Kanao..." I thought to myself.

I looked at the medical stand holding the IV cable and leaned myself against it. I moved my bangs out of the way as it was very long, I then took my first step as I felt the weight throw off my balance and almost fell back down.

"C'mon legs..!"

I thought as I tried to walk, A nurse walked in as she saw me trying to walk as she quickly ran to help me up saying "Ma'am you're not supposed to be on your feet!" as I said to her "I..I need to reach Ryushin...". The nurse replied "Ryushin? You mean Fukumoto Ryushin?" as I nodded weakly before losing my grip and falling forward.

I was caught from falling by the nurse and my mom as she came in at the right time. "Honey, don't go walking like that..." my mother said as I began to cry a bit, She then hugged me lightly saying "I thought I lost you Kanao..." as she began to cry as well.

After a while and calming down, I was put in a wheelchair with my IV bag and taken down to the 2nd floor by the elevator. The elevator dinged as I looked around and saw the elevator open.

By instinct I raised my hand a bit and tried swiping down as the nurse looked at me confused, she then asked me "What are you doing ma'am?". I said to her "There...I..." as I realized that I wasn't in SAO anymore.

"Nothing..."

I said quietly as the nurse pushed me out the elevator and down the west hallway. We then made a turn as we stopped in-front of a room, the room was called "40-A" as the nurse opened the door.

I looked as Ryushin was laying on his bed silently, still hooked up to the heartbeat monitor and had his Nerve Gear headset on. "Kirin..." I muttered as she pushed me in and let me be near his bed, saying "Here you go ma'am, you'll only be in here for a few minutes." as she closed the door behind us.

I looked at him as I held his hand, tearing up as I said "Kirin...please wake up...", I knew I couldn't stand up and hug him as I put my head on his hand. "Don't leave me...You promised..." I muttered as I kept crying and crying. Ryushin wasn't waking up at the slightest as I didn't want to believe this outcome.

The nurse came in as she said "Sorry ma'am but it's time to go" as she pulled the chair back, I felt my hand slip away from his hand, I didn't want to leave, but I had no choice.

We all woke up, even Sato was awake, but the only one who wasn't able to wake up was Kirin... or Fukumoto Ryushin. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. By the 5th month we all fully recovered from the hospital, but Kirin was still asleep.

It turns out that Kirin was in a coma, he won't be waking up anytime soon. This shattered my heart, but it didn't break my determination to see him awake. I visited him for the past year as I was now 22, I was now in college with Sato and Neo. I found out yesterday that Sato's real name is Damian Kobayashi and Neo's real name is Asuka Hashimoto.