Game Over: A Sword Art Online Story

Chapter 14

"Poor Mei. She must be going through a lot!" I whispered to Reo. We were standing on the other side of the room while Mei was sitting down. Reo and I were having a private conversation on what to do.

"You're right, but what can we do? Her guild seemed professional, but we're just..." Reo paused. 

"I know, but we're the only 'guild' she has left," I answered. Reo hesitated, but nodded after. We turned to Mei and said, "We want to help you."

Mei looked at us and smiled. "I would really like that," she said. We came to her and sat down with her. After a short pause, Mei asked, "Are you girlfriend and boyfriend?"

I widened my eyes and felt myself turning red. We kissed and fell in love, but we never really settled on girlfriend and boyfriend...

I looked at Reo and he looked at me. Then he smirked and turned to Mei. "Yeah. We are."

Did he really just say that?! I thought. I nodded quickly and said, "Yeah, yeah! We sure are!"

Mei nodded and said, "I knew it! You guys looked like a couple! It must be great..."

Reo then asked Mei, "Did you fall in love?"

She hesitated and then slowly nodded. "Really? With who?" I asked.

Mei took a deep breath and said, "It was Kai."

Reo and I looked at each other and then looked back at Mei. "Kai? You mean the leader?" Reo asked.

Mei said, "Yes. He was amazing. He was kind, handsome, a fighter. I wanted to tell him I loved him, but..."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, no. It's not that." Mei interrupted Reo. She continued, "He was already in love with Venus, the second-in-command. When Kai first recruited us and then we started training, I noticed every single quality a leader could have in him. He was perfect. I wanted to become close to him, so I started opening up."

"We started talking almost every day. I loved every second of it. But one day, Kai told me to meet by a tree. When I came, I saw him sitting down. I asked him, 'What do you want to tell me?' He turned to me with a look that almost melted me. I was asking myself, 'Is this it?!' Then Kai finally said, 'Mei, you've been such a good friend to me. I need your help.'

"My heart sank. I asked him and then he said words that broke my heart. 'I love Venus, and I want to tell her that, but I don't know how to do it. Could you by any chance help me?' I held back my tears and said 'Ok.' He smiled and acknowledged me and left. For a minute I wanted to tell Venus to back off, or to convince Kai that I was who he was looking for, but then I felt a wave of sadness come over me."

"There was nothing I could do. I followed Kai and saw him and Venus kiss. I knew it. He didn't need me. I wanted to leave the guild, but all my friends were there and I couldn't leave them. All I could do was just get over it. I promised myself I would never fall in love again. Ever since that happened, I never got hurt. It worked for me."

After hearing Mei, I felt sympathy for her. Besides losing her guild, she lost her first love. I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Mei, we're going to make sure you never get hurt again, alright?"

Mei gave a small smile. I looked and Reo and he smiled back. Mei was our friend and she will always be. We'll keep her safe.