The Truth Behind Alfheim

Alfheim - Neutral Region - Central City - Alne

We finally reached Alne our destination and it was already dark but however, the city lights around Alne made it beautiful

Kirito: "Yggdrasil..."

Leafa: "There's no mistaking it. This is Alne, the center of Alfheim and the largest city in this world!"

Hikari: "What a long journey just to get here."

Yui: "It's my first time coming to such a massive city."

Leafa: "Me too. The lights of the mineral towers look like stardust."

*BZZT* *BZZT*

We then heard a sound that sounds like the system for the game

System: "The server will go offline to undergo scheduled maintenance today January 22nd, from 4 AM to 3 PM. Please log out at least ten minutes in advance."

System: "I repeat, the server will go offline to undergo scheduled maintenance today January 22nd..."

Leafa: "I guess that's it for today."

Hikari: "It seems so."

Leafa: "Let's head to an inn to log out."

Hikari: "I'm down for that how about you Kirito?"

...

Kirito: "Yeah... okay."

Leafa gave him a confused glance

Kirito: "All right, let's look for one to stay at then. I don't want to blow off all my money so let's go somewhere plain."

Hikari: "But don't you still have a lot of Yrd left?"

Kirito: "I'll save it for tomorrow."

Hikari: "You just want to go somewhere cheap don't ya?"

Hikari: "Well if that's what you want alright then."

Leafa: "You heard your Papa. Is there an Inn with a cheap price?"

Yui: "Eh? Hm... Looks like there's a dirt-cheap inn that way."

Leafa: "Dirt-cheap inn?"

Kirito: "Come on, let's go."

Hikari: "Yeah we know." We then started walking inside the city

Yggdrasil

Asuna who got out of her cage set off to explore the castle and she found a door

Asuna: "That's..."

She then approaches the door making sure nobody was near she pressed the button which quickly opens the door making her hide again

After checking the coast was clear she sees a white hallway she then goes inside to investigate

Home

Rin: 'I feel like crap...' After sleeping at 4 AM I woke up early to feel horrible

Rin: 'I'm glad this is just one time.' After I showered I wore the same clothes since it's my normal outfit at this point I then went down to eat a burger

Rin: "This Arc is almost ending soon this is going to be painful once we get to the top of Yggdrasil not only that but..."

Rin: "Sugu is going to know our identities in the game now."

Rin: "Well it's going to be fine either way so I really don't have anything to worry about."

Once I finished eating my burger I then do some weight lifting with the dumbells I bought with the money the System gave me just to build up my strength

I was going to lift it up when

Suguha: "EEIIIYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

That scream interrupted my session and I instantly dropped to the ground and suffice to say I was in pain

Rin: "Ouch... I forgot about that... Ugh..."

Yggdrasil

Asuna who was walking toward in the hallway was taking a long time to reach any rooms at all

Asuna: 'Just how long does this go on for?'

After a few minutes of walking, she comes across a map

Asuna: 'What's this a guide map?' She checks the map

Asuna: 'Where... Where can I find a console to log out at?'

After looking at the map she finds a room named "10091 - EXPERIMENT HANGAR"

Asuna: 'Experiment?' She then remembers the conversation she had with Oberon

Asuna: "..."

Kirigaya Residence

Rin: "Why am I here? Just to help you guys prepare the food?" I was helping Kazuto and a grumpy Sugu in making a salad since he once again dragged me into his place

Kazuto: "Well the foods you make are always delicious so I thought maybe you can make some for us."

Rin: "That's a dumb reason don't you know how to cook?" I sighed

I notice Sugu was still in a bad mood so I asked her

Rin: "What's wrong Sugu?"

Suguha: "Onii-chan will treat me to green tea shave ice with red bean and raspberry cream pie if he wants me to forgive him."

Rin: "Is the scream you made also a part of that?"

Suguha: "Y-You heard it?!"

Rin: "Uh yeah? I was near your place so I could still hear it."

Sugu was embarrassed since I heard her scream all the way to my house

Rin: "And you better treat her Kazuto."

Kirito: "Yeah alright."

Suguha: "Yes! Then how about the three of us go today?"

Rin: "Oh..."

Suguha: "Hm?"

Kirito: "You see... we only have plans for this afternoon, but we're thinking of going to the hospital this morning."

Suguha: "Oh, I see." She gets a bit disappointed after hearing that

Suguha: "Say, you two. Can I come along with you two to the hospital?"

Kirito: "Eh?"

Rin: "Why do you look surprised I mean she can tag along with us."

Kirito: "Yeah sorry about that. Of course, you can Sugu. I'm sure Asuna would like that."

...

Suguha: "Yeah." She then grabs the bowl of salad and puts it on the table

Suguha: "All right, let's eat!"

Rin: "Mhm." Kirito then gets the plate and we prepare to eat

Yggdrasil

Asuna who reached the "10091 - EXPERIMENT HANGAR" went inside to check it out

What she finds are a bunch of capsule-like machines with a hologram brain on top of it and it showed the nervous system of the brain

Asuna: "What is this?"

Oberon: "...by stimulating the limbic system of the brain, it might be possible to manipulate thoughts, emotions, and even memories."

Once Asuna clicked things together she found a terrifying discovery

Asuna: "They're suffering!" She then turns to look at all of the machines

Asuna: "All of them are... How... How terrible!"

...

Asuna: "He can't get away with this. No, I'll make sure he doesn't." She then turns to one of the machines

Asuna: "Bear with it. I'll save you soon."

After that, the door opens and Asuna quickly hides behind one of the machines

two Slug creatures came inside the room

Slug 1: "Well then, I wonder how they're doing." They then check on one of the machines

Slug 2: "Oh, this guy's dreaming about Spica-chan again. Fields B13 and 14 are off the charts. 16's getting rather high too. He's very excited."

Slug 1: "Could it just be a coincidence? This is only the third time."

Slug 2: "No, it's undoubtedly caused by the emotion-incitement circuits. For it to be observed at this frequency shows it's past the threshold."

Slug 1: "Anyway, guess we'll put him down as a sample for regular monitoring." Asuna who was hiding sneak away to get past the two

Real World

We were on a bus going to Asuna's Hospital

Suguha: "Hey, Rin, Onii-chan, what are two gonna do about school?"

Kazuto: "School?"

Suguha: "You two were supposed to start high school last year, right?"

Rin: 'I haven't even been into a school ever since I got into this world.'

Rin: "About that. There's a plan to use a local high school that was closed due to reorganization and pretty much turn it into a school for both middle and high school students who were trapped inside SAO."

Kazuto: "And supposedly, there's no entrance exam and graduates will be able to take exams to go to university."

Suguha: "Oh, really? Although it sounds like a reasonable idea, won't the victims feel like they're just being isolated?"

Kazuto: "Well, we did spend over two years stuck inside a brutal game of death. There's no telling how it may have affected us mentally. So maybe it's to keep an eye on all of us."

Suguha: "That's just..."

Rin: "But do we really have a choice but to accept? If we go to a regular high school and take the entrance exam we have to study almost a year just to pass the test."

Suguha: "But I'm sure you two would do fine on an entrance exam. I mean Onii-chan always had good grades and I'm sure you can pass it in no time."

Rin: "Tell that to the two years younger version of ourselves and not us."

Kazuto: "We haven't even studied in the past two years."

Suguha: "Then I'll be your private tutor for the both of you!"

Kazuto: "Oh? Then maybe we'll ask for help with information processing."

Rin: "And don't forget about math."

Suguha: "Ack..."

We both just chuckled

Yggdrasil

Asuna was trying to sneak past the two slugs by hiding behind one of the machines however

she spots a cube that looks familiar

Asuna: 'That's...' It was the system console

Asuna: 'A system console?' She then checks behind to see the two slugs are distracted

Asuna: 'Great, they haven't noticed me yet.' She then makes a run for it and rushed toward the console

She then takes a card that was on it and swipes it down

After that multiple screens pops up in front of her and it shows the logout button

Asuna: 'There it is!'

She was going to press the logout button when...

Real World

We finally arrived at the tokorozawashi general hospital

Suguha: "This hospital is enormous."

Kazuto: "The interior is amazing too."

Rin: "Yeah it's just like a hotel but is a hospital."

We then entered the elevator to go to Asuna's floor then once we were at the floor we went to her room

Suguha: ""Yuuki Asuna"-san. So her character name was her real name, huh? There aren't many people who do that."

Kazuto: "I didn't expect you to know that. Asuna's the only person... Actually, one of the few people ever known who does that." Sugu then looks at me for a sec and I sweatdropped

Rin: 'Kazuto you're screwing me over here.'

Rin: "Well she was new to games so it makes sense why she used her real name." We then entered her room to still see her in bed

Kazuto: "I'll introduce you. This is Asuna. Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood. Asuna the Flash. She had speed and precision in her swordsmanship that I was never able to match."

Kazuto: "Asuna, this is my sister, Suguha."

Suguha: "Oh... N-Nice to meet you, Asuna-san."

RIn: 'She can't hear us though...'

Yggdrasil

Asuna who was going to log out was stopped by the two slug liked creatures by using their tentacles to stop her

Asuna: "Ngh!?"

Just one more second and she could have logged out she was then pulled away

Asuna: "Ah!" And putted upside down to face the slug creatures

Slug 1: "Who are you? And just what exactly are you doing here?"

She then had an idea

Asuna: "Hey, put me down. I'm a friend of Sugou-san. He gave me permission to have a look around and I was on my way out."

Slug 1: "Oh? I don't remember hearing about that. How about you?"

Slug 2: "Doesn't ring a bell. Besides, this isn't exactly the type of place we'd let people tour around in."

...

Slug 1: "Wait a second." One of them inspects her face

Slug 1: "You're her, aren't you? The girl that Sugou-chan keeps locked up at the top of Yggdrasil.

Slug 2: "Oh yeah. Now that I remember." While they were talking Asuna uses her feet to try and press the button

Slug 2: "It's not fair that the boss has such a cute girl all to himself." However, it fails and one of them grabs her feet

Slug 1: "There, there, behave yourself."

Asuna: "Stop it! Let me go, you monster!"

Slug 2: "Jeez, that's a harsh thing to say. You know, we're in the middle of a deep-sense mapping experiment."

Asuna: "You're both scientists, right? Aren't you ashamed to be participating in this illegal and inhumane research?"

Slug 1: "I think it's more humane than sticking electrodes into the exposed brains of experimental animals though. They're all just dreaming, after all."

Slug 2: "Yes, exactly. Sometimes, we even show them delightfully euphoric dreams. It almost makes me want to take their place."

Asuna: "You're insane..."

Slug 2: "The boss is on a business trip, right? Log out of here and ask him what we should do with her."

Slug 1: "Fine... Hey, don't mess around on your own while I'm gone."

Slug 2: "Yeah, I hear you. Get going already." One of them uses the console to log out

Asuna then continues struggling to free herself out

Asuna: "Let go! Let me go so I can leave!"

Slug 2: "No can do! The boss would murder me for that. Forget that, how about we have some fun with electric drugs instead? I'm just sick of playing dolls all the time, you see."

Asuna: "Huh?"

He then uses his tentacles to touch her face and her body

Asuna: "S... Stop it! What are you..." He starts wrapping his slimy tentacles around her body

Asuna: "Stop!" His tentacle was booping her nose and Asuna bite it

Slug 2: "YOOOOOOUUUUCGHHHHHH!!!!"

Slug 2: "S-Stop! Ow! Okay, I'll stop now!" He then unwraps his tentacles

Slug 2: "Tch... I forgot that I disabled the pain absorber." Just then The other slug came back

Slug 1: "What are you doing?"

Slug 2: "Nothing at all. Anyway, what did the boss say?"

Slug 1: "He went ballistic. He said to put her back in the birdcage above the lap, change the password, and keep her under surveillance around the clock."

Slug 2: "Darn. And here I thought I could finally have some fun. Let's at least walk her back instead of teleporting. I want to enjoy this feeling for a bit longer."

While they were talking Asuna noticed the card on the console

Slug 1: "So she's your type too, huh?" They then look at her and put her on their back

Asuna: "Let me go already!"

Slug 1: "Keep still."

Real World

Sugu who was watching had a sad expression on her face

Suguha: 'She's beautiful. For someone like her to be still asleep...'

We were just watching her sleep on her bed

Suguha: 'Maybe I shouldn't have come, after all. I still don't understand my feelings.'

Suguha: 'I thought I would if I met Asuna-san. But... do I just want to be a good sister? Or do I...'

While I was leaning on the wall I see Sugu looking at Kirito holding Asuna's hand and she had sadness written all over

Suguha: 'Onii-chan...'

I then sighed

Rin: 'Well it's going to happen soon.'

Yggdrasil

Back in Yggdrasil Asuna was then put back to her cage and the password was changed to prevent her from going out again

Slug 2: "See you. Let's play again if we get the chance." The two slug creatures then went on their way leaving Asuna alone

However...

Asuna: 'I won't lose, Kirito-kin, Hikari. I'll never give up. I'll escape this place if it's the last thing I do!'

She was holding the card that access the console which was gone unnoticed by the slugs

ALO

Back in ALO, I was doing some stretches to get ready for the day

Hikari: "Might as well buy some items before we go."

Just before I went back inside the door I heard Leafa comes back inside the game

Leafa: "Mghh..." She then sits up and sighs

Hikari: "Hey Leafa welcome back." I smiled at her

Leafa: "Hikari..." She had sadness around her face

Hikari: "Is there something wrong?" She then looks at me with tears on

She was crying...

Leafa: "Sorry... but the thing is... Hikari... I... I... I had my heart broken..."

I just silently listened to her

Leafa: "I... I'm sorry for saying stuff like this to you when we hardly know each other. It's bad etiquette to bring real-world problems here, after all." I sighed

Hikari: "You know... It's alright to cry in the virtual world and the real world." I sat beside her

Hikari: "I mean the rules don't say you can't express your feelings in the game."

Leafa: "Hikari..." Her tears were falling

I sighed

Leafa: "E-Eh?" I then hugged her

Hikari: "What I'm saying is that it's alright... Just let it all out I'm here for you and so is Kirito."

She then cried on my shoulders while I just pat her back

Hikari: 'I guess this is how it is when you experience unrequited love... I feel bad for her.'

Hikari: 'She loves her brother but it was already too late.'

Hikari: 'She wants to forget her feelings however love isn't something to be forgotten.' I sighed internally

Hikari: 'Love really is troublesome... It's pretty much the reason I don't get into romance.'

After some time, she stopped crying and I released the hug

Hikari: "You alright now?"

Leafa: "Mm... I'm fine. Thank you for that Hikari." She wiped her tears

Leafa: "You really are nice."

Hikari: "I guess so... Leafa um I'm not good in these types of situations but... I think the best thing for you to do is to move on from that person."

Leafa: "Move on?"

Hikari: "Yes. Move on and find another person in your life because if you keep pursuing that person it will only break your heart more."

Leafa: "..."

Hikari: "I know it's hard but it's the only way for you to get better."

...

Leafa: "Mm I'll keep it in mind."

Hikari: "Great. Um you can log off and take a breather for a few minutes me and Kirito will wait for a while"

Leafa: "No it's alright besides I've already come this far right? I'm not going to give up just yet."

Hikari: "Okay if you say so." We both smiled at each other

Hikari: "Changing the subject where is Kirito he's late."

Just then Kirito came in

Kirito: "Hey guys."

Hikari: "Speak of the devil your here."

Kirito: "What did I miss?"

Hikari: "Nothing major just some girl talk right Leafa?"

Leafa: "Yeah." She then stands up

Leafa: "Come on, let's go guys." She says while holding out her hand and I grabbed it to stand up

Hikari: "Alrighty Kirito you heard her."

Kirito: "Yeah Yui, you here?" Once he said that Yui appeared right by his shoulder while yawning

Yui: "Good morning, Papa, Onee-chan, Leafa-san."

Hikari: "Morning."

Leafa: "Morning, Yui-chan. Hey, I was wondering since yesterday... Um, do Navi-Pixies sleep at night?"

Yui: "Of course not. But when Papa's not around I go with Onee-chan if she's also not around. I disable my input channels and organize accumulated data, so, in a sense, it's similar to human sleep."

Leafa: "But you yawned just now."

Yui: "Humans yawn during their boot-up sequence, right? Papa does it for an average of eight seconds."

Hikari: "Really I thought it was ten seconds."

Kirito: "Ok you guys don't need to disclose weird facts like that." Leafa just chuckles

Kirito: "Ahem... Well then, let's head out."

Hikari: "Mhm."

Leafa: "Sure.

After we went out we see a lot of players roaming and chatting around the city

Hikari: "This place is packed."

Leafa: "And it's so lively here."

Kirito: "Just what you'd expect from the center of Alfheim."

Yui: "It looks like players of all races from all across the continent are gathered here."

While we were walking I spotted Leafa blushing a bit just then I looked around to see two people together more specifically a couple

I then laughed a bit internally

We were going up the stairs to see the view of the city above and the World Tree

Kirito: "So that's... Yggdrasil."

Leafa: "Yeah."

Hikari: "It's so huge when we're in the center."

Leafa: "Seeing it up close like this is breathtaking."

Kirito: "Um, there's supposedly a city at the top of this tree and..."

Leafa: "The Fairy Kind Oberon and the fairies of light, the Alf, live there, and the first race to have an audience with the king is said to be able to reincarnate into Alfs."

Kirito: "Can you climb up from the outside?"

Leafa: "The area around the trunk is designated as an off-limit area, so that's not possible. And even if you tried to fly up, you'd hit the flight limit long before you reached the top."

Hikari: "Well we heard that a group of players flew on top of each other's shoulders and went past the limit."

Leafa: "Oh, that incident. Apparently, they almost reached the branches. The GMs must have been in a panic because it was patched shortly after. Now there's supposedly a barrier just above the clouds."

Hikari: "Well that's a bummer."

Kirito: "For now, let's head over to the roots."

Leafa: "Yeah, got it." We then started walking

We talked a bit such as the tree itself and a bunch of conversations so it could pass time

After a lot of walking, we were finally near the roots of the tree

Leafa: "Once you two pass through that gate, you guys will be at the center of the world, Alne's central district."

With that knowledge, we went through the gate to walk further in when Yui suddenly pops out of Kirito's pocket

Kirito: " Hey, Yui. What's wrong?"

Hikari: "Did something come up?"

...

Yui: "Mama..." Once Yui said that Kirito was surprised and I just listened to Yui however Leafa is confused by this

Leafa: "Huh?"

Yui: "Mama's here."

Kirito: "Really?"

Yui: "There's no mistake."

Leafa: "Um..."

Yui: "This player ID is Mama's. Her coordinates are right above us!" She then pointed at the tree

Hikari: "Above us?"

Leafa: "Kirito-kun-" she was going to say more when Kirito suddenly activated his wings and flew up in the sky which left a gust of wind

Hikari: "Oh you got to be kidding me..." I then activated my wings and followed after him and Leafa does the same

Leafa: "Wait! Kirito-kun, Hikari!"