Sword Art Online

Part 4

As if the chill till yesterday was a lie, a warm, gentle breeze blew over the lawn. Perhaps attracted by the merrymaking, several small birds descended onto a branch of the garden tree, appearing to look over the humans with great interest.

A garden party was hosted without care for the season at the vast front yard of Sasha's church, with the big table from the dining hall moved and set there. Food was taken out from a large grill like magic, raising a grand roar of joy from the children.

"To think that something this delicious... was actually in this world..."

The chief executive of the «Army» who was rescued just the previous night, Thinker, bit into the barbecue that Asuna had exhibited her talents in, as he spoke with awe. Beside him, Yulier looked over the situation with a smile. She had the presence of a cool-headed female warrior on first impression, but when she was beside Thinker, she resembled nothing more than a cheerful young wife.

And as for Thinker, although there wasn't much time to get a good look at him yesterday, when sitting at the same table like this instead, he had a character that gave off an aura of gentleness, very much unlike what the top of a huge organization would be thought to be.

With a stature of a degree slightly taller than Asuna, he was evidently shorter than Yulier. His somewhat stocky body was clad in plain clothes, and he did not have a single weapon on hand. Beside him, Yulier too, was not in her Army uniform style today.

Thinker accepted the wine bottle Kirito offered into his glass, and apparently not for the first time, he gave a firm bow.

"Asuna-san, Kirito-san. We are truly obliged to you this time. Just how can I thank you..."

"No, I'm quite indebted to «MMO Today» on the other side, after all."

Kirito answered as he smiled.

"That's a nostalgic name."

A broad smile showed on Thinker's round face upon hearing that.

"At that time, with the burden that updating daily was, I thought that I shouldn't even bother doing a news site, but when compared to being a guild leader, it certainly was slightly easier. I would have been better off running a newspaper stand here too, huh."

Gentle laughter streamed out from the table.

"And well... how did things go with the «Army»...?"

Asuna enquired, and Thinker changed his expression.

"Kibaou and his followers were expelled. I really should have done that much earlier... With my personality of being bad at arguments, the situation kept getting worse... —I even thought about disbanding the Army."

Asuna and Kirito rapidly opened their eyes in surprise.

"You... must have pondered over that for quite a bit."

"The Army had become too huge... I'll be breaking down the guild and from that, creating a more peaceful organization for mutual aid once again. Breaking it down and abandoning all of it is just irresponsible after all."

Yulier softly held Thinker's hand and continued in his stead.

"—We believe we will be distributing the assets that the Army had accumulated thus far to not just the members, but equally among all of the inhabitants of this city as well. We've caused such trouble up till now after all... Sasha-san, we're really sorry."

Yulier and Thinker suddenly gave a deep bow, causing Sasha's eyes to blink with surprise within her glasses. She frantically waved her hands in front of her face.

"No, that's too much. The children have received help from the good folk from the Army in the field too, after all."

With Sasha's candid denial, the place was filled with gentle laughter once more.

"Well, putting that aside..."

Tilting her head, Yulier spoke.

"The girl from yesterday, Yui-chan... how has she been...?"

Asuna met glances with Kirito, and replied with a smile.

"Yui has... returned to her home..."

She softly moved the finger on her right hand to her breast. There, a thin necklace, which had not been there till yesterday, gleamed. At the tip of the exquisite silver chains, a pendant, of silver as well, hung down, with a large clear gem shining within it. Brushing the teardrop-shaped jewel gently, a slight warmth seemed to have spread to her fingertips.

At that time—

After Yui was covered in light and vanished, beside Asuna, her tears falling endlessly as she knelt on the stone paving, Kirito gave a sudden shout.

"Cardinal!!"

Raising his moist face, Kirito gazed at the ceiling of the room and screamed.

"Don't you dare think that it'll always... go as you like!!"

Firmly pulling himself together, he abruptly jumped at the black console in the middle of the room. He dexterously struck at the holo-keyboard still displayed. Her surprise pushing away her sorrow for just an instant, Asuna cried out as she looked on in wonder.

"Ki-Kirito-kun... What are...!?"

"If it's still... If it's still now, I might be able to intrude into the system with a GM account..."

Before Kirito's eyes, continuing to hit the keys as he muttered, a huge window appearance with a beep, and the radiance from the strings of characters rapidly scrolling past illuminated the room. While Asuna watched over him dumbfounded, Kirito entered in several more commands in succession. A small progress bar window appeared, and at the moment the horizontal bar reached all the way to the right end—

The whole of the console made from the black rock suddenly flashed bluish-white, and immediately following that, Kirito was sent flying with an explosive sound.

"Ki-Kirito-kun!!"

Panicking, she inched up to him, fallen onto the floor.

Shaking his head as he pulled his upper body up, Kirito gave a thin smile within his haggard expression; he faced towards Asuna and extended his closed right hand. Not understanding what was going on, Asuna followed suit, holding out her hand.

What had fallen from Kirito's hand into Asuna's was a large crystal made in the shape of a tear. In the middle of the elaborately faceted stone, thump, thump, a white light was blinking.

"Th-This is...?"

"...Before the root authorization activated by Yui was cut off, I desperately tried to disconnect Yui's program source from the system, and converted it into an object... Within that, Yui's heart is there..."

After having said just that, Kirito tumbled onto the ground, as though he ran out of energy, and closed his eyes.

"Yui-chan... you're... in there, huh... My... Yui-chan..."

Once again, her tears poured out endlessly. Within that blurred light, as if to answer Asuna, from the center of the crystal, it twinkled with a single strong thump.

They reluctantly waved towards Sasha, Yulier, Thinker, and the children, and the cool wind, infused with the scent of the forest, greeted Asuna and Kirito as they returned to the twenty-second floor from the teleport gate. Though it was a mere three day trip, it felt much longer than that, and Asuna took a deep breath of air.

What a vast world—

Asuna thought about this mysterious floating world once more. On each and every one of these countless layers, there were people living on them, passing each day with tears and laughter. No, painful events were likely to be more common for most of those people. But still, everyone continued fighting their own battles day after day.

The place where I should be...

Asuna gazed over the path leading to their home, then looked up at the base of the floor above.

—Let's return to the frontlines, she suddenly thought.

In the near future, I cannot help but take up my sword once again and return to my own battlefield. I do not know how much longer it will take, but I will fight until this world is finished, to let everyone show their true smiles once again. To grant happiness to everyone— That was what Yui had wished for.

"Hey, Kirito-kun."

"Hmm?"

"If the game is cleared and this world is gone, what will happen to Yui-chan?"

"Aah... Well, it might be stretching the capacity a little. I've converted her to a part of environmental data for the client program and saved her into my Nerve Gear's local memory. On the other side, it might be quite difficult to unpack it as Yui... but it should be possible somehow."

"I see."

Asuna turned her body about and hugged Kirito tightly.

"Well then, let's be sure to meet up with Yui-chan again on the other side. Our very first child."

"Yeah. Definitely."

Asuna looked down at the glittering crystal in between the couple's chests. Mama, do your best... She seemed to hear that faint voice from deep in her ears.