The Master Tactician - SAO Aincrad Arc X OC

First Floor Boss

"Ughh It's so early. What time is it?" I asked myself as I got out of bed. I looked at my menu and saw that the time was 10:30. I guess I overslept. It's been a while since I've overslept. I received a message notification.  I opened my private messages and saw that Kirito sent me a message. I tapped on his profile and the message said 'Hey JP. Don't oversleep. We have the raid at 11 o'clock. Apparently most of the players also overslept so they're changing the schedule. We need to meet by the bottom of the dungeon by 10:50'. Thank goodness I overslept. I quickly got up and went outside to the entrance of the inn. As I walked down the stairs, I saw a familiar face standing beside the door, seemingly waiting for someone. 

"Oh, JP, nice timing!" said the short brown haired girl.

"Yuuki right? Is everything ok now?" I asked as I recalled yesterday's events. She seemed like she was going through some terrible things, but now she seems very cheerful.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. You just caught me on a bad day, that's all." she said as she also remembered what happened yesterday. "I wanted to apologize about yesterday. You just caught me in a weak moment, and... Yeah."

"Yeah, I'm also sorry if I acted a bit too familiar. Anyways, I've got a raid in a few minutes, so I've gotta go" I said as I opened the door ready to leave.

"Actually, I have another thing I wanted to ask you" She said as she grabbed my shoulder turning me around. "Could I come with you?"

"HUH! YOU MEAN TO THE RAID?" I asked in shock. "I mean... you... How old are you again?"

"I'm... 12. BUT ALMOST 13!"

"So let me get this straight. YOU ARE ASKING ME TO BRING A CHILD, A 12 YEAR OLD, TO A BATTLEFIELD!?"

"Hey! It's not like you're an adult. You look 15 or 16 years old, you shouldn't really be fighting a battle at your age either"

"There aren't enough people in Aincrad, and most of us are either young adults or teenagers, so the front lines need as many people as they can, so they put the age barrier at 13. Besides how did you even get out of the orphanage?"

"I... Snuck out."

"What?"

"Well, I was never actually in the orphanage. Please, I beg you. You won't regret it- I don't consider myself a bad player. Just add me to your party and look at my stats"

"I'm not convinced, but just looking at your stats doesn't harm" I went to the party menu and added her. To my surprise, her stats were really good. Her level was higher than me, but lower than Kirito's, and while her defense was pretty low, her mobility was very high, and attack was also high. "I'm still not sure about this"

"Aw come oooooon. How bad can it really be?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about having the death of a child in my hands?"

"It's just... I'd rather die doing something that I love, than live doing something that I hate" While I don't usually care that much abouch quotes and small phrases, actually being told something like this felt different somehow. 

"Alright. I guess I'll let you, but we need an excuse. People can't find out that you're 12. Let's just say you're 13"

"Yayy! Let's go then!" she said as she ran out the door. I looked at my menu and saw the time.

"10:40! WE HAVE 10 MINUTES TO GET THERE FAST!" I said as I began running.

"Hey hold up!" She said as she came behind me. 

With our above average speed stats we were able to get there just in time to meet up with Kirito and Asuna. Most players were already there, but at least we weren't the last ones. As we arrived at the meeting place, we saw our 2 other party members in the distance.