New Game? *YES*

Chapter 3 - Questions & Answers

*Note*

Sword Art Online is not owned by me in any way, all rights go to the respected company

Photos used are not owned by me, all rights go to respected artists

All information used throughout the story has been accessed through the SAO wiki

Kirito POV:

One week had passed since the player of SAO had been released from the death game.

I was going through rehab in the hospital physical therapy center and was slowly getting accustomed to using my legs again, however, was told to avoid using them as it may cause future suffering.

Ever since the game finished, I was constantly thinking about what my friends from SAO were doing. I wondered about Klein and Agil and how they must have to get better as quick as possible in order to return to work. I thought about Liz and Silica who must be grateful to see their families once again. I wondered about these thoughts often, however, one thought that would never leave my mind was Asuna.

I would constantly look out the window thinking about how she must feel about returning from the world. I looked out the window and thought back to my time first meeting her at the first-floor boss raid meeting and how secretive and mysterious of a player she was but was also the most determined to finish the game. Asuna was the only thing I had looked forward to and hoped to be able to see her and interact with her in the real world

SAO had taken many things from us, but it also created many bonds which I would have never made if I never entered the virtual world. I always thought of what my life would be like if I never entered Aincrad, how I would continue being a shut-in who would play computer games all day or work on personal projects which my uncle and aunt didn't know about. I thought of how SAO changed my life and how it was what lead me to Asuna.

I continued to work in the physical therapy center for a couple of more hours before deciding to finally be pushed back towards my room.

Upon arriving at my room, I sat down in my bed and took the laptop my uncle had given me a couple of days ago to stay connected with the outside world. I browsed around the internet looking at various news websites and newspaper articles.

Most would mention how grateful the players of SAO were and how happy they and their families were to have returned. However, few of the magazines would talk about the few SAO survivors who had gone mad from the experience and couldn't handle being let out after so long. I understood how those players felt and would sometimes think about how I would manage to get make into society. I would still sometimes check my back to make sure a had my sword, even though I had exited Aincrad. I looked more into the articles and read about the various emotions being felt by the players until something caught my eye.

I clicked onto an article and looked at the heading of the page which read "The Escape from the Death Game". I read the article and how it talked about those players who had fought in the front lines and how they risked their lives to help people escape that nightmare. As I continued to read, I smiled at how the efforts of those who fought on the front lines were being acknowledged and that the death of those who died trying to help didn't end up in vain. I continued to examine the article until a certain subheading caught my attention, "The Final Battle". I frowned at the subheading and continued to read it.

Once I had finished the sub-article, I had a face of pure shock and worry. In the short excerpt, it had all the witnesses of the final battle between Heathcliff and I interviewed to gain knowledge of how we had all escaped. They all mentioned the basic information of the strongest player being Akihiko Kayaba and how he was the hundredth-floor boss. They further mentioned how the strongest player besides Heathcliff figured out he was Kayaba and that Heathcliff offered him a duel to free all the players of SAO as a reward for his discovery and it continued on with explaining the fight and about me coming out victorious.