LINKED | Brothers Online Series | BK #1

Chapter 9: A Growing Party

December 24, 2022 Floor 3 – The town inn

Brenda (Zara) Lockwood:

Sunlight streamed through the air and hit the side of my face, warming it up. A couple of birds chirped off in the distance and something soft and fuzzy covered my body.

The ground underneath me was somehow very comfortable with a hint of fluffy bounciness. I moved around for a moment with my hand.

'W-what?' I thought as my mind slowly woke up. 'This isn't the ground.'

With each body part sluggishly coming online, I opened my eyes and stared down at a bunch of purple and white flowers. I blinked and realized that the flowers were a two-dimensional design on bed sheets.

Wait a minute. Bed sheets?

"Eeeeeep!" A squeak escaped my mouth as I pushed up into a sitting position. My honey-blonde hair dropped down from my head into a messy pile of golden curls. I pushed them out of my face and looked around. I saw that I was in some foreign room.

At the far wall, a pair of windows let in the warmth of the morning sunlight. The door at the end of the room was closed and had a small peephole at the top. I looked down at the supposed "ground" and found that I was on a queen-sized bed with the same flowers on the blanket covering my body.

A table sat about four yards away from the foot of the bed and was surrounded by two wooden chairs. On top of the table was a vase of yellow and blue flowers. Next to it was a folded up piece of paper.

I made to move off the bed but was assaulted by a powerful pain. I grabbed my head and fell back on my heels, whimpering as a dull pounding continued to ring in my consciousness.

Something ruffled to my left and I looked over at another bed that was next to mine. I didn't know how I missed it in the first place. That didn't matter though for a mop of black hair poked out from under a pile of blankets. I heard a small yawn as two slender hands reached out.The arms then moved to uncover the rest of the body, and I saw little Yumi blinking with owlish eyes.

She made a cute little noise as she stretched. She had on a white t-shirt and I assumed that she wore her usual black shorts. She always changed into that outfit when she went to sleep. I was used to seeing her in those clothes after our first encounter.

After stretching, Yumi looked around and noticed me staring. She smiled sweetly and got off her bed, walking softly over to mine. She sat down on the edge and quietly said, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright. Just tired." She must have seen through my bluff for she shook her head and gently probed my skull.

"You're not alright. You're head still hurts doesn't it?" Yep. She definitely saw through my lie.

Sighing, I replied, "Fine. My head hurts a little bit." I then quickly made to reassure her. "But it's not that bad! It feels better already. Anyways, where are we?" I looked around the room again, trying to decipher its location.

"We're back at the town."

'Really?' I thought. 'How'd we get here?'

Yumi saw my questioning look and filled me in.

"We were rescued by a couple of guys. They got us out of that cave."

'Oooohhh. That cave.'

I remember that cave. As I thought of that, my mind went back to the events of the past month and how Yumi and I ended up in that cave.

From the very beginning, Sword Art Online was just a game to me. It didn't hold any special meaning or have any purpose. It was a game, a tool for entertainment, and I had played it for just that reason.