RYOKO (Sword Art Online)

Chapter 1 - Offer

My eyes fell upon the frail looking body lying down on a hospital bed, a black helmet connected to wires to different outlets on top of their head. I walked forward, watching as Dad pulled out two seats for him and Mom, placing them down beside the hospital bed before sitting on one while Mom took the other. As I neared him, his features became more prominent when hidden behind the transparent black glass of the NerveGear. His usual well tamed stubble had grown into a full beard over the two months and if possible would be trimmed quite soon. His usual shoulder length brownish-red hair that he liked to pull back in a small ponytail had also grown a bit but not as much from being dyed so many times in the past when he 'rebelled' against our parents as a teen. His eyes were sunken in and his cheekbones were more noticeable along with his jawline that could probably stab you if put enough force upon it. His limbs were skinnier from not receiving enough nutrition from solid foods but I could only think that it would get worse as time went on. I sat down on the bed, grabbing hold his bony hand and rubbing small circles over it with my thumb. The three of us just sat there in silence, watching as his chest rose steadily during his coma like state. My thoughts ventured to what was happening to him in the game, was he eating in the game? Fighting, having fun with friends? Or against a deadly foe that would cause his death in both the virtual and real world. I won't know unless I was there myself.

I opened my golden brown eyes, staring down at his closed eyelids, trying to imagine what his eyes looked like in that moment. Surprised, Afraid, Happy, Relieved... I looked over at our parents, seeing them speaking in soft whispers to one another, staring at them. All of us held the same eyes, the same golden brown eyes. One of the many ways to tell that we were blood related. I let out a soft sigh, shaking my head before looking at the heart monitor to the side, listening to the soft beep going through the room and watching the lines mimic his current heartbeat. I followed the tubes from the many IV Bags strung around one of the corners of the room, all going to him to provide vitamins and water into his system. As for his feeding tube...

I couldn't see where it was, maybe there was certain times they would feed his body liquids from solids? That's the only possible reason I could differentiate for certain. Within a flash, two hours had passed during our visit and the soft knock on the hospital door indicated that. Dad stood up, leaving Mom's side to open the door. He opened the door to reveal Mr. Kameya along with a woman in a doctor's robe with a clipboard in hand

"Miss Ryoutarou, shall you follow us." Mr. Kameya told me in soft of a demand instead of a question. I nodded, gently setting Tsuboi's hand back down on the bed before getting up and walking over to them. Dad glanced my way before leaning down to my ear

"We will be here when you get back, alright?" He whispered to me and I nodded, softly smiling up at him. He returned it, even if both of our smiles were strained, we had to hold on. I walked out of the room, closing it silently behind me before following after Mr. Kameya and the woman, seeing them awfully silent giving me the indication that whatever that had to speak to me about was confidential and for my ears only. We walked through the hallways of the hospitals, passing by many doors that were left slightly open to peer into. Many of them were victims of SAO, and unluckily, some of them held crying family members with the heart monitor no longer displaying a heart beat. I swallowed the lump in my throat, shaking my head, no, don't let your thoughts go into a dark place during this time, we will get them out of there, we will save them. If otherwise, they will save themselves by clearing the game. I could only think that my brother was one of them who would try and clear the game no matter what it took, that's just the kind of person he is, selfless, puts others before him. It was a good trait but when it came to life and death, it was difficult.

We came upon a door, Mr. Kameya opening it for us with a card key before walking in, me and the woman trailing in behind him. The woman closed the door behind me, walking further into the room with long strides. She sat down on one of the black couches, my eyes finally registering there was other people in the room, around 5 others. 3 men and 2 women. Mr. Kameya sat down on the other couch, gesturing to the black leather arm chair before me