book two: trapped || sword art online

Chapter 7

Published: 01/07/2016; Saturday; 11:20am; Unedited

Kazuto, Asuna and Sugu are quiet as they ride the elevator, there was nothing to say in this moment. Though, Sugu didn't know that Asuna would be coming as well, but then she remembered that Asuna also knew Ume, so of course she would come as well.

The elevator stops and the doors open, letting them step out and walk down the hall until they reached a door.

521
Narashi Ume

'N-Narashi?' Sugu's eyes widen, remembering the family that owns the hospital had release to the public that their daughter had yet to awaken.

Her brother slides in a keycard to the device above the door handle, he yellow light turns green with a beep and they all enter the room. Sugu was immediately uncomfortable, the last time she was in a hospital, it was because her brother was there, and now? Why was she here? She didn't know this person, she just...

Oh.

Oh wow.

As Sugu gazed at pale girl with unnaturally white hair, she noticed she was rather small for her age, and from what she heard from Asuna, she's the same age as her brother. She...

'She looks like a porcelain doll.'

It was only just a fleeting thought, her first impression on the girl was that. One she had to shake her head to rid of it before she was brought back to reality.

"Hello, Ume," Asuna greeted quietly, sitting down next to bedside along with Kazuto, the girl grabbing the frail hand carefully and just looking at her.

"Ume, this is Kirigaya Sugu, my little sister," he introduced her and she flushed, not expecting to have to say anything. She just wanted to meet the girl, not engage contact (sort of).

"H-hello!" She squeaked, falling into a bow by habit, "it's...nice to meet you, Ume-san." Unsurprisingly, she didn't get a reply. Noticing many different items around the room and picture frames that all held some sort of meaning that she would probably never figure out, until her eyes settled on the flower vase on the bed side with dead flowers, she set her own bouquet down by the sink and walked over to them, listening to Asuna talk about random things, Kazuto occasionally adding his own small comments, and carried the case over to the sink.

'This is strange,' was her thought as she took out the dead flowers and threw them away in the bin next to the sink, pouring out the dirty water from the vase and rinsing it out. 'She'll just wake up eventually right? It's just a delay, or maybe there's something wrong with her brain...' She stopped the water, putting her flowers in, frowning. 'What if she doesn't wake up? What then?'

She walked from around the curtain and over to set the vase down. Just as she did, the heart rate monitor skipped a beat, before showing that her heart was beating faster.

"Eh? What- what's going on?" Asuna flinched back from her hold on Ume's hand, scared. "C-call a nurse?"

"...yeah, this might be something they should see," he got the remote and pressed the buttons for the nurse, and it was a good decision to because Ume's heart was beating faster and her brows now furrowed, she seemed to breathing rather hard now and it was terrifying to watch.

Instead of just nurses, both Narashi Kyoya and Nagisa burst in through the door, wide eyes staring as their daughter fell into a state of discomfort. Though there was disappointment in their eyes, hoping that she was awake, but they quickly started checking what was wrong.

"Something is happening, probably a enough mental strain that's causing her body to react like it is. Ah, sorry you two, maybe you should come back another day," Nagisa explained, but her eyes settled on Sugu, who flinched. "Oh, who is this?"

"Kirigaya Suguha, my little sister. We'll just go then," Kazuto looked uncomfortable watching what was happening to Ume, seemingly okay with leaving. Sugu bowed to the woman who smiled apologetically.

"Nice to meet you, I hope our next meeting isn't like this. Be seeing you." She turned to hurry and help her husband and nurses, letting themselves out and headed back home, the Asuna split up with them to go to her own home.

When they arrived home, they both excused themselves to their rooms and both dived into the world of Alfheim Online without the other knowing.

But nothing would have prepared them for what would happen next.

~*~

It was a terrifying feeling, she concluded, falling from such a height. She was still falling, keycard in her hand to make sure it didn't fly out of her waistband, and everything below still look so small.

Yeah, it was really terrifying.

Not knowing if this could kill her or not. She really hoped it did, because maybe, she could get out like that. Oh, but what if SAO rules still apply to her and she actually dies? Better than being stuck with Sugō.

Eventually she could actually see little figures starting to group and point at her and she felt a wave of relief. Instead of shouted, she pretended to be unconscious, so maybe then, they'd realize that they needed to catch to.

She needs them to catch her.

Soon she heard shouts of "oh shit we have to save her", "doesn't she look like the girl from that picture?", and "what if she's a special quest that takes you to the world tree?!" That really got them to help catch her.

It was still a pretty rough landing.

She crashed into the people who had huddled up to be a sort of cushion for her, and though it worked, it still pushed them back, knocking them over like bowling pins, until they stopped and she was on a small pile of people. Alive.

She groaned, as did the people below her, and she looked at her hand to make sure she still had the card. She did. She shot up, jumping off the pile of players and waved at them, "Thank you for your help!" Before taking off into a run again, not really knowing where she was going, she just needed to get away fro the tree, and hopefully find someone who can help.

She heard shouts behind her about what the quest was and that they need to get her, and she could only grunt in annoyance as she heard people chasing her.

Of course she still has to get chased, she's Ume, it's probably her fate.