Sword Art Online : Akari's Story [Discontinued]

Chapter 5: Dodging Numbers

"Well then, I guess this is where we bid farewell to each other" Asuna smiled with a hint of sadness.

"Yeah... We'll meet again someday I hope" I smiled back.

She gestured a wave of goodbye then turned her back to me. She went away and slowly vanished out of sight. Asuna was a really kind and beautiful girl, I had hopes of getting to know her better by inviting her in my group with Gin and the others. But she kindly declined and told me her plans of going solo. I was a bit reluctant but I respected her decision.

Oh, are you wondering what happened after the boy jumped in the last chapter?

Unmistakably, the boy really died. A friend of his told us that his name in her friend list suddenly disappeared. The creator, Kayaba Akihiko, did not go back on his words. It seems as so that a large stone called the "Monument of Life" exists with all the names of 10,000 players in SAO and if a person have died, his or her name will be crossed out. Someone had seen the name of the suicidal boy and it has been proved crossed.

I sighed all of my stress as I crossed my arms and shrugged my shoulders.

Nothing can surprise me anymore after this. The death I have seen with my eyes left nothing but fear that lurks in the corners of my thoughts. Just thinking about my HP reaching zero makes me shiver down to the bones. But I can't just cower in fear forever. I have to freeze this feeling of negativity and hold onto hope.

"Now, I guess it's time to look for them" I said while stretching my arms up to the darkening skies.

I looked backed down again and turned around. And as I was about to continue forward in search of my friends, I heard my name from afar, which stopped me in my tracks. A familiar voice was calling out to me, the running figure came closer and closer until I saw his face.

"Claire! I finally found you!" Gin said, wheezing and panting. He took his time catching his breath as he rested on his bent knees.

"Y-Yo..." I twitched a smile and waved him a "hello".

Sweat dripped from Gin's face and his hair curled everywhere it wanted to go. From the looks of him it must've took some time to find me. Was he so desperate that he searched until he was sweating buckets?

Gin suddenly stood up straight and approached me slowly. He wasn't saying anything, he was dead silent. He had an expression of an angry bull, ready anytime to charge at me.

"E-Eh? G-Gin... Your too close..." I gulped with a stutter. 

He was so close to me, particularly in front of me, no longer than 6 inches. He looked mad like water that has been boiled. Usually, he would put on that smile of his and say "Let's go back" but this time it's different, this is the first time I've seen him like this and it just doesn't feel right. It made me wish that I should've have never caused him trouble by getting lost but at the same time I didn't regret it because I met Asuna.

Gin raised both of his hands in the air and looked like he was about to hit me. I gasped. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes, ready to take the impact. But then what I had expected didn't happen. He rubbed my head with his knuckles, ruffling my hair. I opened an eye and glanced at him. He had a smirk on his face like a little trickster. I blushed of embarassment of how he easily fooled me.

"Hey! Stop it!" I pushed him away.

"Haha, sorry, sorry" He laughed it off then finally let go. 

I stared at him with disbelief but ignored him and forwarded to combing the tangled strands of my hair with my fingers. 

"Claire, your such a child, getting lost and all and It had to be me to find you, tsk tsk" Gin lectured and shook his head.

"I'm not a stupid enough to get lost... You guys just walk so fast that why I lost you, so it's not my fault" I pouted.