SAO: Beyond the Digital Sea // A Sword Art Online Fanfiction

Fairy Dance Arc: Ch 1

January 2025

The atmosphere in the room settled in a rather uncomfortable manner after Misaki went ahead and explained the situation to his friend. Well, that would be more akin to "explained" rather than explained. Saruhiko, a usually down to earth guy was certainly taken aback.

"So let me see if I have this right. This guy-"

"I am Kirigaya Kazuto. Nice to meet you once again.", he introduced himself once more.

"-is an SAO survivor."

"Yes", the blond confirmed.

"And he and your sister got married in-game."

"Yup"

"And now he's here to visit her...cause they got married in-game."

"Exactly"

...

...

...

"What the fuck?", was the only response the raven haired could master at this dumbfounding turn of events. "Why did this game, where you can pretend to be anyone really, had a marriage system? Did no one stop to think what that could lead to?"

"I know ri-Wait! THAT's the part you take issue with?", Misaki arched his brow. "Besides, your brother put in there, so-"

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for the reminder.", Saruhiko's fists clenched. "Man, screw this game at this point. For real."

To the teen, it seemed as if his brother has purposely set out to create the baseline for most problematic game to be released ever. But that is surely a threshold passed ever since the part about keeping 10k people hostage was revealed to the public. 

But during this back and forth, one person was left to piece any clue together as to what's happening. The boy, Kazuto, was already aware of Misaki as Asuna's brother after his very first visit at the hospital, where they crossed paths. Not so much with his friend, until a crucial detail slipped.

"I'm.. sorry for butting in, but ... 'brother'? Are you related by any chance to-"

"My name-", he cut Kazuto off. "-is Kayaba Saruhiko. Kayaba Akihiko's younger brother, yes.", It wasn't pleasure to reveal that a year ago and it certainly isn't a pleasure for him to reveal it now, either. "Sounds like you've at least some inkling of knowledge that I existed to begin with."

"Yes. Near the end of the game, he mentioned you. Kayaba Akihiko I mean."

"Hold on. Near the end? You met my brother in game?"

"I was part of the clearing squads for the floors, assuming you're familiar with how the game worked. Perhaps you might have heard my character name online. It's a bit embarrassing to have people call me that in the real world as well, but I was Kirito in there."

"WHAT?!" 

Saruhiko broke into his, most likely, highest vocal register. So much so that even Misaki was startled, let alone Kazuto. 

"What's gotten into you?", his friend voiced his concern.

But Saruhiko had other thoughts rushing through his head. {Kirito? What were the chances for this to happen? And my brother talked to him about me?}

"Snap out of it, damn it!", Misaki shook him by the shoulders. "Seriously. What's up?"

"Too much of a coincidence is what's up.", he shrugged the blond off. "You.", his finger pointed at Kazuto. "2 months ago. You tried accessing a in-game console from somewhere, didn't you?"

"How...do you know that?"

"Cause I was watching the logs on servers that day. Misaki, this guy is the one I told that triggered the deletion of that AI!"