Sword Art Online: Regeneration

8:

I walked to school the next day with Lucy. That night, I ate the food she left, did my homework and showered. I waited for her to come home then I went to sleep. Kaito said he wouldn't be going to school since he was sick. We knew if he was lying or not when he did give us that excuse. We check his temperature only to find out it was 99 degrees Fahrenheit.

"I told you to bring a jacket." My sister nagged, "Get some rest, okay? I'll have Kazuko buy you ramen on the way home."

He nodded and went back to sleep. She sighed and we strolled off.

Normally, I rode the back of the tram with Akari but with Lucy being around, she'd tell me what I was doing could get myself killed. She was somewhat right on that but most of the time, trams move slower than the average vehicle. But with no protest, I sat inside at the back of the tram with Lucy.

"Anything fun happened there?" She asked as she put her bag on her lap.

Oh, nothing much just an army of demons ambushed a handful of guild members and I nearly died. Also, became friends with a guy that had two eye colors and the commander of the most significant guild in SAO. Shite, they're probably the government of it if you think about it.

"Oh nothing much. Just hang with Akari and did some jobs for the guild."

For some reason I couldn't muster up the courage to say all of that. Maybe Lucy would tell me it was ridiculous. I shouldn't be meeting people online and easily befriending them. She wouldn't understand what I was doing.

I was in Biology class and had a seat at the far corner and shared a table with my chatty friend, Akari. It felt weird how she wasn't here yet, normally she was. I glance at the clock to see it was almost 8:30 am. Where was she?

The bell rings and Akari swoops in on time. She looks at the teacher and then the class. She quietly nodded at the teacher and walked to me. I was shocked by what I saw on her face. It was a huge bruise on her left cheek.

I tap her on the shoulder as she buried her face with hands on the desk.

"Hey, Akari," I inquired, "What happened to you?"

With the muffled voice she said she fell from the staircase.

"Guess what," I grinned, trying to make her feel a little better, "Do you have any small cash on you?"

"Abuf fifeen dollars." She responded, "Why?"

"We could eat at the ramen bar today during lunch. Lucy, wanted me to buy Kaito some since he's sick. It'd suck if I had to eat all on my lonesome." I sarcastically emphasized that last sentence.

"Cool, see you there." I put my hand around her shoulder.

"Kazuko," the teacher called, "Which organelle does cellular respiration occur?" She knew I was not paying attention.

"The mitochondrion" I answered, I could see her expression hardened and continued to point stuff on the board as I rested my head on my hand.

I told Akari to see me 12:30 by the Sakura tree where I mostly ate lunch. I leaned on the tree and check my phone to see anything. That's when I saw a message from Akari. I open my messages and read it out.

Akari: Can't come, dad brought me home early for some reason.

Me: It's fine. Will you be online later?

I wait for a response as I buried my phone into my bag and approach the wired fence with a huge gap. I crawled under and cross the street to the ramen bar. I ordered for myself a chashu ramen and chicken breast for Kaito. He preferred chicken over any meat. I notice there were a handful of students who snuck out of our school to eat here. It was delicious after all.