Progressive Factor II: Lacrimosa Of A Reaper

Holding Pinkies

Koharu

When Koharu returns to the guest room, Jaymes is immediately in her sights. He's seated on the windowsill, gazing at the dark sky outside the window. His arms hold the sheathed sword Imperial, letting it rest on his shoulders like a sleeping lover. Her arrival or approach doesn't sway his attention, but he knows it is her based either on the timeliness of her arrival or her steps.

She sits on the opposite side of the windowsill, bringing her legs to her knees and joining him in watching the starry night sky. She waits for him to speak rather than blurting out her thoughts. The longer the silence between them is, the more unbearable it becomes to the point that her girlish desire to speak up pokes her brain relentlessly.

"I'm fine, Koharu. Really, I am."

"I see. That's good you aren't beating yourself up anymore. But what's on your mind?"

"Well... If we can't find a counteraction to the poisons, I wonder what to do."

"We will," Koharu insists, to which Jaymes holds his hand up.

"No, I know we will. The game has to be balanced that way." His gaming logic normally would discard any other conflicting thoughts, so it is strange that he's caught up on this one. "But it's a question of if, but when. At this point in the beta, there weren't many poison weapons, or if there were, they were level-1 poisons, much like the poison we faced against the third floor's boss. So the antidotes we gathered there were fine. But this changes everything. So if we can't eliminate the cause or the effect, we have to eliminate the...middle."

Koharu feels her throat tense up. "You...don't mean..."

He closes his eyes and sighs. "That's the last resort, and if it comes down to taking off Morte and his friends...but there's one other way. The game is fair, Koharu, and it gave us something unexpected: Lore."

"Lore?" A fancy gamer term for 'background information,' Jaymes has told her that lore is a valuable resource when it comes to gaming. To both of them, it's the history of the world and helps it feel alive and real. For example, the story of the Great Separation is the history of Aincrad. But how Koharu sees that as plain history, Jaymes sees it in a gamer's light: it is an answer to question and births even more. It can connect all the dots of a quest and form more connections to be found.

He is right. They received two pieces of elven lore moments ago, one connected to the pick that Jaymes holds in his fingers. "Oh! You mean the story about Shmargor and Selm."

"Yes. Selm, a human, beat a dragon that spewed this very poison. The general did the same thing. I'm going to put my faith in that story, that there's a way Selm fought a poisonous dragon and it will be the key to how we beat the PKers. But if that doesn't work, I won't hold back on using violence as a deterrent."

So that's how it is. Koharu swallows and loosens her throat, feeling the tension in the room relax a bit. As much as she hates to admit it, Jaymes has a point. Morte and his gang are going to fight them without a care, so why shouldn't they do the same? But he hasn't said one thing - that Koharu should follow in his stead. That Asuna, Kirito, and Mito should adhere to the same principles. Jaymes has already decided he won't hold back on extreme measures if the moment calls for it and proved it earlier. But that doesn't sit right with Koharu.

She may be the only one who sees it, but Jaymes is not a murderer. He may be apathetic at times, blunt with his words, and in her case, overly protective. But simultaneously, he took a girl he didn't know in the other world under his wing and protected her. He took in a newbie and made her one of the most vital members of SAO in nearly three months. He gave her courage, blessed her with many reasons to smile, and took her on many adventures in their short time together as partners and as a team with Asuna, Kirito, Mito, and Argo. They even broke the taboo of virtual gaming, opening up about their real lives even if it was the most minute details. If he goes down this path...he might regress and become someone Koharu won't be able to recognize.