Looking For Something Real (Sword Art Online)

31. Celebrations

Chapter 31- November 23rd 2025 "Celebrations"

Yggdrasil City, ALO

It had been a long morning working at my part time job at the mall. With the world seed in the open many new games were cropping up for the virtual space and that meant a massive increase of sales for the AmuSphere.

When I had originally started at the store way back at the start of May, it had specialised in PC equipment and only sold a token number of AmuSpheres packaged with ALO.

Now however the shop had almost entirely become a one stop place for all your VRMMO needs. I guessed it was just indicative of the times, VRMMOs had become the latest hotness once again even after the SAO and original ALO incidents. I certainly wasn't complaining as it allowed me to talk to customers about my true passion.

As I finally got home I realised that Liz had sent me a text message, probably on my ride home from work. It read:

Don't forget I need your help ASAP! Get your butt online the moment you are in! Everyone else is turning up at five for the grand opening and we still need to get the place up and running xxxx

The time on my phone was 1:23 so I had time to have a quick sandwich and a cold drink before logging on, thinking that surely Liz wouldn't notice.

As I materialised into ALO I found myself still lying on the bed in the upstairs of the shop, well, our home I guess. It was still so strange to think of it like that, but I loved the idea all the same. I could hear the clanging of a hammer on metal from downstairs, the tell-tale sign that Liz was hard at work.

The sounds took me back to watching Liz work in SAO. It always seemed to bring a smile to her face, indicative of her passion for crafting. That smile was part of what made me fall for her in the first place so I was thankful that she had the opportunity to do it again.

I made my way down the steps as quietly as I could so as not to disturb her but was rumbled when Liz glanced up and spotted me as I came down from the last step. Without hesitation she charged towards me and leapt into my arms. I spun in a circle as I held tightly to her and Liz was giggling as we went.

"Hey Tyzn, welcome home from work" She beamed as we came to a stop.

"Anytime I'm with you I feel at home" I said with a cheesy grin.

Liz laughed again and gave me a poke in the chest. "God that's terrible! Now come on I need you to fill the weapon racks." She pointed to the walls where several racks were positioned, Liz had already labelled up each one with the type of weapon it would display and several crates were laid out before each of them. Given Liz's usual cavalier attitude I was surprised at her organisation but then remembered back to a similar scene one time in her Lindarth store.

Looking back now that particular memory was a fond one, although at the time I remembered feeling dejected that she had feelings for Kirito. Now it just proved how lucky I really was.

Liz went back to crafting more weapons from the huge amount of material we had amassed since New ALO had released back onto the market and I got to work filling the racks.

In total Liz had crafted nearly 50 weapons of varying types in under the three hours that the game had been back up, yet as I looked at her I could tell she was loving every second spent crafting up something new.

Every now and then I'd hear a moan of disapproval, a sigh of "this'll do I guess" or a louder call of "much better". Yet despite her perfectionism Liz was in her own world and the smile remained glued to her face.