The Lightning Flash

Chapter 13: No Backing Down Now

"You look like hell, little lady," commented Agil at the high school girl that was seated at one of the bar stools, in front of him.

Of course, she wasn't having anything to drink due to her age but she, along with the rest of her friends, had a tendency to make Agil's bar their hangout spot, after school. The kids all loved his wife's cooking and he couldn't deny that having them around was a nice change of pace from the usual customers that he had which consisted of drunks, seductive middle-aged women, annoying sport fans and every other kind of a customer that a bartender had to put up with, especially at night. The girl seated at the bar stool in front of him was Kazuto's sister, Suguha, who Agil had met a couple of times, the first being, when the two helped Kazuto rescue Asuna from Sugou. After Agil's comment about how she looked, Suguha picked her head off of the bar counter and, gloomily, stared back at him.

"I've been up all night, worried sick about Kazuto. He's acting weird, again."

"Like when Asuna was still trapped in Sugou's VR world?" Agil asked and Suguha shook her head, no.

"No, when I look into his eyes, I don't see sadness...I see the opposite. Determination. A strong and fierce determination. Nothing is going to stop him from joining that tournament in GGO and taking down the bastards, who killed Klein. But, that's what worries me. I thought the days of worrying about dying while being inside of the Nerve Gear were gone. That doesn't seem to be the case, though. I don't know how Klein died but there's no denying that he did in fact die while the Nerve Gear was on his head, still. When Kazuto was stuck inside of SAO, my mom and I would visit him, constantly, and every single time, I would dread about whether or not he would ever wake up, again. I don't want to experience that, again."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Agil, sadly. "Believe it or not, I tried to convince my wife to allow me join the tournament as well. How do you think that went?"

"She yelled at you?" guessed Suguha.

"Haha, yeah, she sure did. Not that I blame her, though. She was at Klein's funeral, after all. She just doesn't want to see her husband suffer the same fate. Still, I don't like the idea of those kids joining the tournament and fighting this on their own. They may have matured quickly because of the terrible things they've had to endure over the last few years but, at the end of the day, they're just kids. This is a problem that adults should be able to fix, not them. They shouldn't have to deal with this kind of bullshit. They should be focused on things like...school...dating...hanging out with friends...normal things high school kids deal with."

"Unfortunately, the day they were trapped in SAO was the same day that their chances at a normal life was erased," said Suguha. "I wanted to join them in the tournament as well but Kazuto won't let me because my level, in-game, isn't high enough. I haven't been able to play that much because of my Kendo practice...and falling so behind on all of my homework. It sucks. If I hadn't been so focused on my stupid Kendo and homework, then I..."

"Playing the blame game doesn't do anybody any good," interrupted Agil. "The only thing that the two of us can do is have faith in them, right? I mean, two of the kids we're talking about were the best players in SAO and the other girl is probably the best shot with a sniper I've ever seen. They can handle this...I know they can. Besides, I'll be watching a live feed of the tournament from that tv up there."

Agil pointed to a small television that was displayed in the corner of the bar. It was usually used for customers, who wanted to watch sports games or reality shows, but if Agil wanted to, he could watch the entirety of the Bullet of Bullets Tournament on it as well.

"The tournament is held at night, I believe. If that's the case, how about I close up the bar early that night so the two of us can watch the tournament and make sure no weird shit happens during it?"