Sword Art Online - Legends of Aincrad

Chapter 21 - To the World Tree!

Hey everyone! Firestorm40 here and welcome to chapter twenty-one of Sword Art Online: Legends of Aincrad! This chapter features Shoto and Kirito on their way to the World Tree, with some extra help. On with the story! 

(Opening Theme - No Game No Life)

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Real World

Suguha sighed heavily to herself as she walked through the courtyard of her school. She had been excited to start her combat lessons with Saito, but then her kendo instructor had asked her to stay late after school to help tutor some of the younger students. 'At least I'll be home in time to get onto ALO...'

"Hold it right there, Leafa!" a high-pitched, nasally voice caught the girl by surprise, as did the appearance of its owner. She took a deep breath to calm herself as she looked at her friend in the eye.

"I thought I told you not to call me that out here, Nagata," she said warningly. Her friend was a short boy with brown hair and eyes, framed by rounded glasses, and a nervous air about him. He was also known as the Slyph, Recon.

"R-Right, sorry," the younger boy said sheepishly. "W-Well, I just wanted to talk to you about your plans for later... Sigurd and the other said that they'll be going on a criminal guild hunt this afternoon, and they wanted you to help 'em out..."

"Oh, right..." Suguha sighed. "Well, they'll have to go without me- I won't be around those guys for a few days."

"Wha-?!" Nagata exclaimed. "Wh-Why not?!"

"That's my business, and none of yours," Suguha said sharply. Usually she could tolerate her friend's nosiness, but right now it was grating on her nerves for some reason.

"W-Wait, are you going somewhere with that Spriggan and Salamander?!" Nagata said helplessly.

"Yeah," Suguha said crisply. "I promised them I'd get them to the World Tree."

"B-But... That's such a long way away..." he whined. "You never took me up on my offer to take you... And... Wait, that means you all will be... sleeping together...!"

That was the last straw. "Don't get any weird ideas about it, you creep!" Suguha shouted as she darted forward and rammed her kendo pack into Nagata's stomach, causing him to groan loudly and double over in pain. "We're going as a party, and that's it!"

"Ow..." Nagata moaned as she left him lying on the pavement.

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Suguha made it back to a quiet home at five until three. Normally she would have gone to check on Kazuto or call Saito after coming home so late, but she guessed that they were probably visiting their friend in the hospital, which was just fine for right now. It would save her the trouble of trying to explain to Saito why she had bailed on their training at the last minute.

She dashed upstairs, changed out her school uniform into some casual clothes, and set up her Amusphere at top speed. She grinned as she felt the cool plastic settled comfortably on her forehead, and felt her heartbeat accelerate. "Link, start!"

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ALO

Leafa walked into the cafe to see two figures waiting for her. The two figures turned out to be two grinning boys. "Hey guys!" she waved cheerily as she joined them. 

"Yo, Leafa!" Shoto grinned at her, while waving.

"Did I keep you waiting?" Leafa asked.

"Nah, not at all," Kirito grinned as he stood in greeting. "Thanks again for doing this."