Jealous of Her

Chapter 7

Suguha's POV

I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. My breathing quickened. How could this happen? What was even happening?!

Unmoving, Kazuto lay on the ground in a pool of his blood, a knife in his stomach and several gashes torn through his flesh. The boy I had let in earlier was unconscious with several bruises forming on his pale skin.

I stumbled away from the scene, almost tripping over my own feet. My hands shook and I could barely press the buttons to call emergency services.

"M-My cousin was stabbed!" I yelled into the phone as soon as the call went through. "He's not moving, there's another guy here too- Oh my God, there's so much blood-"

It only took a couple of minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but it felt like the longest minutes of my life. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene, and how much blood there was-

A sinister thought crept into my mind, flooding all my senses with panic and sending my body into overdrive.

Was he going to die?

The paramedics were here. They took the boys away in stretchers, their blood soaking the white material and turning it a gruesome scarlet.

An orange blanket was placed on my shoulders, but I couldn't care less. My entire body was shaking, and my knee wouldn't stop bouncing up and down, no matter how hard I tried.

"Suguha Kirigaya?" A voice cut through my panic. I looked up, and a police officer stood over me with a grim look on his face. "May I ask you a few questions?"

I put on my best face and nodded, but my voice just wouldn't work.

"Suguha!" My mom's voice called from behind me. She ran up to the two of us, her eyes wide and wet, almost collapsing onto me, embracing my body in a large hug. She held me tight, shaking, then pulled away, staring me in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

I swallowed, then nodded. In the face of such concern, I finally found my voice and reassured my mom, "I'm alright, Mom."

She grasped my hand, then faced the officer. "I'm Kazuto Kirigaya's aunt and guardian."

He nodded, then pulled out a notepad and pen and asked, "Do either of you know what events led up to this stabbing?"

"I-I let a guy who claimed he was Kazuto's friend into our house," I broke down, the words rapidly flowing out of my mouth. "Then I left the two of them alone and went to practice my kendo skills, but I heard a clatter, and I ran back to them, and I just found them like... th-that." My voice cracked near the end, but I held in my tears.

The officer scribbled down a few notes as I spoke, reviewed them, then nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation."

"How is he?" Mom asked, panicked concern lacing her voice. "Will he survive?"

The officer paused. "I'm sorry, but... I don't quite know. I won't sugar-coat it- the situation is ambiguous. It's a coin toss at this point."

"...Right," Mom glanced at me for a split second, then back at the officer.

"After all the rumors about the famed SAO hero, it's unsurprising that something like this happened," the officer remarked, then seemed to immediately regret his words. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

But Mom had frozen, then said, with shaking lips, "What rumors?"

She didn't know. Right... She'd lost her phone.

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be gossiping," he sighed, putting a hand to his forehead and wiping his brow. "But, since you're his guardian... Well, rumor has it that Kirito and Asuna broke up because he was caught kissing some other girl." A pang of guilt shot through my heart and I bit my lip to avoid crying out. "Then Asuna began dating another man... the man who attacked Kirito. Kou Rosu."