Sword Art Online - The Knight's Requiem

Prologue ~Blissful beginings~

Atsuto groggily woke up, groaning as he remembered a pleasant dream he was having earlier in the night. The room he was in was dark, the curtains beside him drawn to prevent any light to come in from the outside. In the darkness his eyes could make out clothes strewn about on the floor along with instant ramen cups turned on their sides. He reached to the phone on his bedside locker. He turned on the small black cased device and the light glared, blinding him for a moment. As his eyes adjusted he could make out the time and date, 12:36pm 19th of July 2022. He put the phone back down and got up to get dressed. He threw his bedsheets to the side and picked out his favourite clothes- a simple black shirt and deninm jeans. He stepped in front of the mirror to change. Atsuto was tall, with skinny arms and legs due to his picky eating habits. He was 18, and lived with his housemates and friends, Aika and Daisuke as they all graduated into third level education together. His black hair was messy due to the time spent in bed and his soft blue eyes reflected a sense of calm back to him. After he had gotten dressed he walked downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat.

When he arrived, at the table situated across from all the cooking supplies and cupboards sat his two friends. Daisuke raised his mug of coffee and said with a grin on his face "Ahh and the mighty dragon leaves it's den!" Daisuke had brown, neat hair, each one combed to perfection on his head. He was large and muscular, and took every opportunity to tease Atsuto about how much more handsome he was because of it. Though he ws smart, and got top grades in every class, much to everyone's surprise. He liked to keep things in balance, have everything perfect and his black eyes had a certain wisdom behind them. Aika then sighed and muttered "I hope you weren't sleeping ALL DAY now, were you Atsuto?" Aika was a short girl with long flowing hazelnut brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. Though she was pretty and small, she could be fierce. She and Atsuto were constantly teasing each other, much to Daisuke's dismay, as he had to prevent it. Atsuto, with a tired tone to his voice, yawned and said "Well good morning to you too..." Daisuke laughed heartily and said "Well I have good news and bad news for you both" Puzzled, Atsuto sat down beside Aika who was frowning, just as confused as he was. "Give us the good news first Dai" demanded Aika "I hate bad news in the morning" Atsuto rolled his eyes and said "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today" Aika flicked his ear and said "Well at least I got up today! Less could be said for you" Rubbing his ear, Atsuto asked "Hey, what was that for?!" Daisuke groaned and pleaded "Guys come on it's WAY too early for this" They both stopped, but neither apologised. Daisuke clapped his hands together. "So early today, I went out with our savings over the past while and got these!" He reached for three plastic bags with a store's logo on the front propped up against the soft yellow walls and took out three identical hemets, coloured black and a brand new shine to them. Atsuto jumped up as he realised what they were. "Dai, are these-" a loud scream from beside him made him yelp as he stumbled over his chair and fell. He looked up and saw Aika holding one of the slick helmets in her hands as she admired it "The Nervegear!" She exclaimed "We've been waiting for these ever since their announcement! Dai, how did you get these?!" Atsuto got up, rubbing his leg pain as he admired it's design as well. "Yeah, these are hot on the market! How did you manage to get one, no less three?" Daisuke was grinning from ear to ear and said "Well, Tatsuo from the store owed me a few favours and he held back three of these with a ten percent discount!" Aika suddenly stopped and asked "Wait a minute, what's the bad news then?" Daisuke chuckled sheepishly and said "Well, the bad news is that we may be eating instant ramen for a while... we're broke"
"Dosen't seem like bad news to me!" Exclaimed Atsuto. "Of course it dosen't, you live off the stuff!" Said Aika harshly
"Hey, that's not true!" He replied
"Oh yeah? Prove it. What have you eaten in the past few days?"
"Well you see, about that..." he flicked her ear and ran away shouting "REVENGE!" She ran after him around the house shouting "ATSUTO YOU ARE SO DEAD WHEN I CATCH YOU!"

And that is how that fateful day began, when their lived changed and a bond of freindship would be born. It goes by many names, but they shall call it...

The Knight's Requiem.