The Lightning Flash

Chapter 28: Kyouko and Asuna

"What made you want to hang out, today, Asuna?" asked Shino, sitting in front of Asuna at the dining room table, inside of Shino's apartment. 

This wasn't the first time that Asuna had visited Shino's apartment.  In fact, she had been to her friend's apartment a couple of times, whether it was assisting Shino with homework, talking about strategies to become better in GGO or to just hang out.  Due to how focused Asuna was on her studies, prior to the SAO incident, she never got the chance to hang out with others her age.  She began to get labeled as antisocial by the other kids because of her refusal to go out and hang out with them.  It was drilled into Asuna's mind, ever since she was young, that success was determined by grades and hard work in the school setting.  Her mother, specifically, made it a point that things such as friends would only get in her way and prevent her from reaching her true potential.  Unfortunately, Asuna, foolishly, believed this growing up and couldn't help but put some of the blame onto her mother for how little social interaction she had when she was younger.  The years where she could have been having fun with friends was coming to a close as she got closer and closer to graduating high school.  Sometimes, Asuna found herself wishing that she could go back in time or that she could've realized sooner how insignificant getting good grades really was in the long run.  Asuna still thought that getting a respectable job was good...but found herself, these days, considering getting a job that she would actually be passionate about rather than one that merely paid well.  Over the last couple of years, she had finally learned that money truly didn't buy happiness but that emotion, instead, came from spending time with the people she cared about most such as friends and family.  In Asuna's case, Kazuto and Yui were the main source of joy in her life and the things she treasured the most but also, she had friends such as Shino, Agil and Suguha that she was extremely grateful for.  Having lost both Lisbeth and Klein in such as short period of time, put into perspective how short life really was and how she should treasure the time she had with her friends and family a lot more.

"O-Oh, since Kirito was busy with something, today, I figured I would hang out with you, Sinon," answered Asuna, smiling.  "Plus, I felt like the two of us both needed a little break from talking about the Bullet of Bullets tournament and Death Gun for a little bit."

"W-Well, I appreciate it," replied Shino, looking at the large dinner that her and Asuna had cooked, together, that consisted of vegetables, Teriyaki chicken, white rice and some handmade egg rolls.  "I think we did a pretty good job on dinner, if I do say so myself. Thanks for helping out, Asuna.  It's been a while since I've cooked a meal like this. Usually, I just settle for TV dinners, these days, since I'm, typically, by myself."

That was one thing that Asuna had noticed every single time she had visited her friend. Shino was always alone at the apartment. Asuna always found herself uncomfortable asking about why that was but decided that she was close enough to Shino, that her friend wouldn't mind talking about, now.

"H-Hey, Shino; do you live in this place by yourself, all of the time?" asked Asuna.  "I know you mentioned that you lost your father when you were younger but your mother is still around, right?  D-Does she live somewhere else?"

Shino's smile at her and Asuna's dinner disappeared at the mention of her mother.

"Y-Yeah, my mom is currently dealing with some things on her own while I live here at this apartment," explained Shino, not looking up to face Asuna.  "She...was already having a really tough time, after dad died.  Then, as soon as she was making some progress, the post office incident occurred and, just like that, all of that progress was gone.  Once again, she was in no shape to take care of me but, this time, my mom didn't want me to waste my time taking care of her so she...just left.  My mom never told me where she was going, either, or when she would be back.  She just...left.  As pathetic as it sounds, to this day, I still call her to check in with her.  I...worry about her a ton.  She is my mom, after all, ya know and...I know that she's somewhere suffering.  I want to be there to help take care of her and I don't think it was fair of her to just up and leave like that.  I know she did it with the best of intentions but...that doesn't mean that I agree with what she did."