Gun Gale Online - Partners

Chapter 01

2 years Later~

"Ah, there you are, Aoi."

As the door to the school roof open, a male student peeked out from behind the door. He's a fairly tall boy with a short dark brown-ish hair and black eyes. He wore his school uniform's suit, pants, and a white t-shirt with a school's emblem printed on it. His most prominent feature is the headphones that he wears, which was a wireless headphones that connected to his phone.

"Kazune?"

I said while looking back at the person who appeared to me, but that person simply replied.

"I see you are still gazing here as always."

His name was Kazune. He's my classmate at this school and I was acquainted with him back in the SAO days. We're used to be team up together before we decided to part ways.

"Oh, yeah... Sorry."

I'm still in the middle of staring blankly at the view which is spread before me, at the other side of the fence. Kazune join me as we stand side-by-side, watching the sight in front of us.

"You still grieving over her?"

Kazune asked while his gaze are also fixed upon the school's courtyard. It's quite a view. The sun is almost setting and it's been shining on the school's ground for a few minutes already. The place that is normally filled with noisy voices and bustling crowds now quiet and only the sound of the wind is heard.

"..."

I could only answer with silence. Losing my partner back in SAO was the heaviest experience in my life. It's hard for me to explain how I feel right now, even after a whole year, I still couldn't let go. After that incident, I started suffering from PTSD whenever i was in a fight. I got no choice but to leave the Frontlines after I decided that it's too hard for me to keep up. That was, until i've met Kazune.

"I should've died back then..."

I mumbled as I stared at the view.

"Hey, don't say that. You know it wasn't your fault."

"If only i'm not getting that paralyze attack, then she wouldn't have to die because of me..."

Kazune sighed deeply and said:

"It wasn't your fault. You just got unlucky."

It's hard to convince me to believe that. Because I knew how hard it was for her.

-----------------------

Shortly after that, The Frontlines that heard we were ambushed by The PK's, arrived and attacking them. Realizing they were outmached, Those Players use a cowardly move by Running away to the forest. Kirito, Asuna, Klein, KoB guilds and others were all gather around me who was kneeling on the ground. My mind felt empty as if I couldn't comprehend what just happened. I could hear voices coming from the people around me, but my brain couldn't register the words that they said. I could only think of her.

"She's gone."

The word just slip from my mouth as I could feel tears streamed down from my face, falling to the ground. The others were shock as I slowly got up from the ground. Asuna put his hand on her mouth, while Kirito's eyes widen in shock.

"It was the Laughing Coffin."

I looked at them with cold stare. They had tried to comfort me, but it felt like my body refused to listen. The grief in my chest just keep on growing with each second, as if it was eating me alive. I did not say anything else, I just turn my back and walked away, shouldering the guilt of her death on me.