Fairy Dance

Wounded Hearts

It was nighttime when the trio of players arrived at the city at the foot of the World Tree, Arun. To Kirito and Jaymes, there was not an equivalent sight to the bright city illuminating the lower trunk of the magnificent tree. By far, it is larger than the largest towns of Aincrad, at least from the ground view. Yui’s confirmation of never being to a city of Arun’s size confirms that not even the Town of Beginnings was this enormous.

After the admin announcement that servers would be down for a few hours, Leafa proposes the group logs out for now. Kirito and Jaymes agreed, but the looks on their faces were jointly fixed on the World Tree. Whatever they’re here for, whoever they’re looking for, that thing or person is directly above them. Kirito then announced he had enough money for a cheap inn, while Jaymes proclaimed he’ll find him and Strea a nice, pricey inn due to Strea’s finances being kept up. Kirito tried to argue for Jaymes to share, but the Salamander was unmoved in his opinion.

“I haven’t forgotten the rare rabbit meal you two had without me. Consider this payback.”

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Asuna

Her escape has been successful so far, with nothing impeding her path except for an oddly high-tech door. Asuna presses her hand against the touchpad, causing the door to open. Hiding quickly, she peeps around the circular entrance, seeing nothing but an empty, white corridor.

Something tells her she’ll find something unpleasant within.

She slowly treks along the path, and after a while, begins to wonder just how long the hallway goes. Maybe she should have just jumped off the tree, falling wouldn’t kill her (well…it’s more of where she’ll respawn). But what is the purpose of this place? She doesn’t know much about this virtual world, but this part is too advanced technology-wise for a world of fairies.

She eventually comes across a map on a wall. scans the map as quickly as possible, looking for a place she can log out. However, her eyes land on a segment on the left side of the map labeled “10091- Experiment Hunger,” gritting her teeth. Suguo already told her he managed to keep some players from logging out of SAO completely by capturing their signals and sending them here.

Asuna decides to find out what this experiment is.

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Kazuto

“Morning, Sugu,” Kazuto says as his little sister steps out of the house while he washes his face by an outside basin and faucet.

“Morning, Brother.”

He pours water out of the basin and stands, looking at the yawning Suguha. “You look really sleepy. When did you get to bed last night?”

“Let’s see… Four, I think?”

“A kid shouldn’t stay up that late. What were you doing?”

“I guess I was on the Internet.”

“...Don’t spend too much time on it. Not that I should talk.” He bends down and checks the water filling in the basin. A playful idea pops in his head as he smiles and looks up at Suguha. “Hey, Sugu. Turn around.”

“Huh?”

“Just do it.” Suguha turns and Kazuto stands up. Pulling her jacket collar back, he drops cold water down her back. She yelps and leaps back in reaction, much to Kazuto’s enjoyment until a sharp hand bonks him on the head. That hand doesn’t come from Suguha, who still is shaking off the chill of the water as she heads inside. Then who--

“Mistreating your little sister is not cool, buddy

Kazuto looks up and sighs at the sight of his best friend, Joshua. “You’re here early, punk.”