Peace be with You

Two weeks pass and there are no new developments. No one has any ideas about where the Sandals of Peace, Shield of Faith or Helmet of Salvation are. Getting so close to the deadline, a lot of the demon players have stopped playing to spend as much time as they can with their loved ones.

Kirito and Asuna are fighting a hideous monster representing Greed, with it's seemingly unending tentacles and layer upon layer of sharp teeth. Asuna casts curses between each of Kirito's blows, but they seem to barely be making a dent in the monster's HP level.

A flash of black and green appears out of seemingly nowhere and when the player goes by Kirito they yell "Switch!" And begin hitting the beast in front of them. As this new player begins striking and slows down enough Asuna gasps. "Kouichirou!"

Her brother only turns for a second with a smirk to his sister before continuing to land blow after blow on the monster of Greed with his future brother in law until he lands the final blow and the monster explodes into thousands of coins and a few items.

All three players land on the ground where the monster had been. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Asuna yells at her older brother. "When we reached out you said you hadn't logged in yet!"

Kouichirou chuckles and shifts back and forth for a moment. "Nice to see you too sis."

Yui suddenly lets out an excited scream before yelling. "Uncle Kouichirou!" The purple and black imp flies to her uncle who helped her stay connected to her parents for this journey and hugs him as tight as her virtual arms will let her. Kirito watches with some envy 'When was the last time she hugged me like that?' he wondered. It felt like she really was starting to act like a preteen that was starting to not think her parents were all that cool anymore…

Asuna huffs and places her hands on her hips as her eyebrow raises. "Kouichirou, why are you here?" Her voice has dropped and Kirito shivers a little at the sound of her angry voice.

"I logged in the day after you guys left Japan. After setting everything up to help Yui join you… I couldn't let my little sister do this, again, without being there for you…" He smiles big enough to reveal his pointy fangs as he scratches the back of his head.

Asuna's heart ached as she ran to hug her foolish older brother. "You dummy!" The tears stopped her from scolding him, but he didn't it, he knew how reckless he was being.

"So…" Kirito smiles as the siblings separate and wipe their tears away. "I guess we are a team of four now." Everyone nods in agreement before filling Kouichirou in on the lack of progress.

There was some silence as they stopped at a restaurant and order some virtual burgers. Asuna's avatar had a small glitch and when everyone's eyes were on her she nervously giggled. "I think it's time for a break from the game. I'm going to log out a little earlier than normal. I'll see you all in 20 minutes." She gives each one of them a peck on the cheek, lingering a tiny bit longer on Kirito's cheek, which Kouichirou looked away from.

When Asuna was gone Yui decided to take a nap in Kirito's pocket again and the two men sat there, eating and thinking.

After some time Kouichirou spoke in a fanciful tone. "I wonder if everything in this game is what it actually seems…"

Kirito sighed. "Me too…"

When Asuna sat up in her bed a few minutes earlier than her schedule Hanna was only a little surprised. "How are you feeling?" She asks gently as her patient adjusts to reality.

"Not well." Asuna grips her stomach. Hanna quickly grabs a bowl for the patient to throw up into.

While Asuna threw up her entire breakfast the nurse typed a command into the computer system and went to get two cold rags to press to her patient's forehead and wipe some of the vomit away. As she comforted her patient she spoke in a calm tone. "This is becoming pretty regular… I know you've been saying it's just all the pressure and adjusting to our food and air and any other excuse you can come up with… but my nurse instincts have kicked in and we are going to draw some blood."

Asuna nodded in weak agreement before speaking. "Just, don't let Kirito know anything is going on… I don't want to distract him." Asuna swallowed. "Can I have some warm water with honey and lemon?"

Hanna smiles and rubs her patient's back. "Already on it's way."

When they all returned to the game after the break they decided to continue moving North on the map until they came across a small desert village. Kirito and Asuna looked to each other. "Does this place look familiar to you?" She asks and he nods.

"You two have been here before? But I thought you said that you've been heading North the whole time you've been playing…" Kouichirou wonders.

As they continue into the village they marvel at how many people are there. It's definitely the same village they ran into at the beginning, but now it is bustling and alive. Children don't avoid them or run from the pack of demons either, they smile and one little group even invited Kouichirou to play with them for a minute.

While Kouichirou was playing a marble game on the ground with the kids Kirito squeezed Asuna's hand and looked at her with concerned eyes. "Are you okay? Any ideas why you glitched earlier?"

Her smile was fake, and he knew it, he knew her face better than she did. "Everything is fine. I was just really hungry IRL." He knew when she was lying to him too, and although he wanted to push further to get the truth, he could tell she had her reasons and settled with a hand squeeze.

When they were at the other end of the city they suddenly heard a familiar voice yelling their names and when they turned to see the NPC they had given everything they had on that first day. "Asuna! Kirito! It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too…" She looks for a name above the NPC. "Job." She smiles.

"Before you leave, I have something for you." Job extends his hands out them and above his palms float a pair of Sandals. "Peace be with you."

They take the sandals in awe. None of them can find words as The Sandals of Peace are added to their inventory.