Sword Art Online: Faithful Hymn

Chapter 37: The Augma

"Y...Yuna..?" I say to the strange yet very familiar figure before me. Since it's dark, I can't see clearly. Although what I can see through the darkness is the glimmering of Yuna's outfit, that triggers my memory once again. The girl sobs, as well as cries in front of me while I can vaguely see her holding the urn filled with Memory Candies. I forgot to throw those away, but I will do that once our sudden encounter has been resolved.

"Shoji... I remember it all. All the terrible things I've done to you the last few days..." says Yuna softly, having almost no space left in her lungs to catch breath out of frustration. I look at her, disappointed, although why would I look at her like that? She is programmed after all. There is no way that she could have done anything about the manipulation of the Memory Candies. It's not her fault for leaving me, even though I assumed she disgusted me personally at first.

The real problem, was Tetsuhiro all along. I trusted him with everything I had, especially because we were talking about his daughter when we discussed Yuna's development. Mostly out of sympathy, I had hoped that he'd agree to help the both of us with our miseries by creating Yuna, as living memory.

But now I can greatly predict Tetsuhiro's real goal. He used me like a puppet, entrusting me with the task to train Yuna to a teenage idol. Tetsuhiro then gave me Memory Candies, in the hope that I would feel Yuna one of these things. If I'd do, she would leave me, preparing herself to become the Augma's AI Idol. I understand why he did it, but the thing that disgusts me is that this is how he honors his lost daughter. This is not what Yuuna would have wanted, and especially not what she would've wanted for me: To find love in life, only to lose it by unfair matters such as wealth and money.

Because that's the thing that people only care about nowadays it seems: Money.

"Please, lay next to me, Yuna." I tell her calmly. I want her to feel comfortable, and not let her feel anxious of me. She obeys my wish, putting down the urn filled with candies on my desk, followed by switching into her underwear. The white-haired diva then lays next to me, just like the good old times. I embrace her body, although Yuna does not seem too comfortable about me doing this. She may still think that I am angry at her, while I absolutely don't.

"Two friends and I infiltrated Kamura HQ to find clues about your strange behavior lately. And we indeed discovered that your changing behavior was because of these Memory Candies. We cut the wire in your programming that was the cause of the Memory Candy effects, which would be sent to you via Wi-Fi."I tell her, with Yuna slowly looking at me as I tell her the cause of her strange behavior. "That's why you're back in control now."

"I... had a feeling that the candies were the cause. I started to feel trapped inside of my body, while another version of me took over." Yuna tells me, with tears developing in her eyes as she talks. "I tried to fight it, I really did. But... I just was not strong enough!" Yuna shouts in my direction while she bursts out in tears, while grabbing me firmly. All of the sour liquids she releases from her eyes get in touch with my body. I press the girl closer to me, closing the distance between our heads. When I feel like nothing except for a sweet kiss would help soothe her worries, I press my lips against hers. Instead of her tears falling onto my body, the tears from one of her eyes now falls onto my face. And just like I had expected, she kisses me back, not being able to resist the amounts of love I am giving to her. I then back away from our kiss, after she is done crying. I grab her by her shoulders.

"You're strong, Yuna. No one is able to fight inevitable corruption, so you don't have to feel bad about it. Also, my love for you will never end..." I tell her before kissing her around her cheeks. The girl still has to recover from her grief, but she is able to pull through.

"I know... I can be so dramatic sometimes. Thanks, Shoji, for rescuing me. I'll never stop loving you.." she tells me, followed by a romantic kiss to ensure that she is feeling better and better by the second. I grab her body, as she grabs mine. With both of us kissing one another, we roll around on my bed. I should stop calling it my bed by now. Yuna definitely claimed her place on it as well. We keep hugging one another, until we eventually both fall asleep, awaiting the release time of the Augma tomorrow.

March 22th, 06:58 PM

"Today is the big day that almost the entirety of Tokyo has been waiting for. Finally, at 07:00 PM on March 22th, is the release of the Augma!" says a presenter on Live TV. On all the channels that citizens in Japan can access, they see the live announcement of the release of the Augma!

"Stores are being flooded with excited customers, as well as online stores, where Augmas already are sold out! You can also see drones flying across the entire city, to ensure the Augma will run as smoothly as possible." shouts the presenter yet again in his microphone. The man sits in a studio, together with five other people who are all happy to present the Augma's grand release.

"And what do you think of its release, Hideo?" asks the main presenter to the man, handing over his microphone to the man. "I am more excited to see what the majority of the people will do with the Augma. There is a whole lot to do, from totally nailing fitness and playing fictional chess, all the way to AR Gaming in the near future!" Right after Hideo is done giving his list of most excited things to see with the Augma's release, the main presenter than takes the microphone away from the man, giving himself the opportunity to let others know what he's most excited about.

"That's right, AR Gaming everyone! With the Augma's release, the new craze will debut as well. That game being: Ordinal Scale! Get together with friends, venture through Tokyo to battle a huge variety of bosses which can be found all over Tokyo! Thanks to our ranking system, you can get exclusive rewards for achieving greater scores than others! Receive discount coupons for a huge amount of restaurants and cinema's, and much more!" says the presenter, who has to give himself a moment to breathe. Hideo then gets the microphone back from the main presenter, letting the world know some other gigantic news.

"And that's not all folks! Ordinal Scale will have an amazing mascot alongside its release. Meet Yuna, the AR Idol Singer who can sometimes appear on the battlefield as you play! It's also rumored that Yuna is not even an AI, but an actual human!"