Sword Art Online; Sheik's Story

Back to Normal/Back to VR

It's been two months since Sword Art Online was cleared. After I got my body back to proportion, I continued my modeling job for my parents. Kirito, or I guess Kazuto, went home with his aunt and cousin. He started going to the gym to build his body up again, and he was back to how he was in SAO. But not everyone made it out.

Both me and Kazuto were approached by a man who works for the government. He asked us to explain what happened in SAO, and as a result, he told us where Sinon was. She had been moved to a hospital not too far from my home. So we visit her often, to see how she was doing and if she had ever woken up. But she hadn't.

Over the past few weeks, I paid Kazuto some visits as well, and I got to meet his cousin/sister. She's a cute girl, and really nice. A tomboy. Definitely the kind of girl I like. The kind who can take charge and dominate almost anyone... But, uh, I'd never actually say that to her face. Kazuto said she disliked games and gamers. And she definitely wouldn't like me in that way. Not after everything I've done in SAO.

Today, something strange happened. I got an email from Agil, or Tiffany as I call him. It showed a blurry image of a giant birdcage with a girl sitting at a table. Or at least that's what it looked like. The girl in the photo looked like Sinon, but it was in such bad quality that it was hard to tell for absolute sure. He told me to come alone, and to not tell Kazuto, for whatever reason. I did agree to it, though, so I went to the Dicey Cafe alone. I enter the cafe, and see Tiff wiping down a mug. "I'm here." I announce.

"Hey, glad you came. You didn't tell Kirito about this, did you?" He asked.

"No. Kazu-kun doesn't know." I say.

"Alright, good." He says.

"Why don't you want him here? Are you going to give me the BBC?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh hell nah. I got a girl, you know?" He says.

"Yeah, I know. I was joking." I giggle slightly and sit at the bar. "So what's this picture about?" I ask.

"Yeah. I'll tell you. Check it." He says, and slides a game case my way. I stop it, and look at it.

"ALfheim Online? Fairies, huh?" I wonder.

"You guessed it. It replaced SAO, and is the latest VRMMO on the market." Tiffany says.

"So this picture you sent was taken in this game?" I asked.

"You catch on quick. Yeah, that's precisely it. In the game, you can fly. But not forever. There's a limit." He explains.

"I get it. That's why the quality is so bad." I nod. I look on the back, and see a familiar logo. "RCTD Progress..." I wonder.

"You heard of it?" Tiff asked.

"Yeah. I had a run in with a really creepy guy at the hospital the other day. He was the owner of RCTD Progress. He said he was the one keeping Sinon alive. Or some junk like that." I growl.

"Well, you wanna go in and get her?" He asked me.

"You don't even need to ask." I says, and stand up. "I'm gonna steal this for a while." I tell him, and walk out of the cafe.

"Hey! At least pay me for the game!" He shouts.

"Put it on my tab!" I call back and run to the nearest game store, but realized I could've just used my NerveGear. I know I'm rich, but I still need to keep my savings balanced.

I set up the NerveGear again, and prepare for my first dive into another game. This time, it was time to truly go solo. "Ah shit. Here we go again." I say, and put the bulky equipment on. "Link start." I call, and the game starts up.