Aincrad, Stalvatos Ruins
The path to the descending floor is not how Koharu imagined. Just below the lookout point where she and the girls originally stared out to the skies a week ago is a floating landmass, similar in geography to the current floor that it looks like it broke off the Stalvatos Ruins.
“So this is the path to that new area.”
“That wasn’t here before, was it? Aincrad is pretty unstable, so it must have formed when part of the place collapsed.”
“Being able to just walk to a lower level is pretty cool. I was just getting kinda sick of navigating labyrinths.”
Koharu almost unconsciously snorts at that last comment that came from Lisbeth as she, Silica, and Leafa comment about the new pathway. The last hour and a half with the pink-headed blacksmith and the red warrior was so uncomfortable that not even the presence of good food from the restaurant they went to helped. But it wasn’t the building animosity between Koharu and Lisbeth that made things truly uncomfortable, but the odd silence of Jaymes the majority of the time.
She knows Jaymes well enough to know he has his moments where he goes completely silent for no known reason, but this felt different. Foreign, she might call it, but she can’t recall any moment between them logging on and now that could made him become that way. It could… It could be a Joshua problem?
“Tia could be somewhere up ahead.”
Kirito pats Premiere on her shoulder. “That would be nice, right?”
“You’re really anxious to see her, aren’t you?”
“Why’s that, Premiere?”
“The reason I wish to see Tia? The last time we saw her, she rejected the idea of friendship. I believe this because she never had a chance to meet people like you.”
“There are definitely lots of different people who play this game”
“Including people who tried to hurt you, Premiere.”
“But I was able to meet all of you. The bonds we formed opened up a world of possibilities for me. Additionally, our friendship helped me find the place where I belong. I wish for Tia to experience the same wonderful possibilities that come out of that kind of relationship. That is why I wish to see her so badly.”
Everyone agrees with Premiere with either vocal or gesturing support except for one person who stands like a statue looking into the abyss. She wants to reach out to him, see what his trouble is since he’s the reason she’s found where she belongs.
“Anyway,” Asuna continues, getting back on topic, “originally, Tia’s settings were null like Premiere’s.”
“Yes, and just like Premiere, she was influenced by the people she met. Her experiences with those people shaped her personality. Doesn’t seem much different from us humans, huh?”
“Or even us from the Underworld, so it seems.”
“You’re right, Sinon, Alice. AI or human, we all change a little bit every day, shaped by the people we meet and the things we do.”
Silica faces Premiere with a bright smile. “And Premiere is still growing because of all the new things she’s experiencing. Her future’s brighter than ever.”
“That is correct. Especially if I can obtain what I desire.”
“You mean like making your dream come true? What is it?”
“Asuna is his ‘wife,’ so I am hoping to be his ‘lover.’”
“...Huh?” All eyes move from Asuna and Premiere to Kirito, who laughs and looks off to the new pathway.
“Welp, this new area isn’t going to explore itself!”
“Huh? But what was that weird thing Premiere was talking about?” Oh, Asuna’s doing the fake smile expression. Kirito notices it too.
“I didn’t hear anything weird! Must be your imagination. Anyway, we need to focus on reuniting Premiere and Tia! Right, Jaymes!”
Jaymes finally engages in the conversation, having been poked by Kirito’s elbow. “Yeah, let’s get to it. Worry about the lover thing later.” He turns around and begins counting. “There’s fourteen of us, so two complete parties of seven. Kirito and I will be party leaders. How do you want to do this?”
Kirito shrugs. “Call the six you are inviting, I’ll take the rest.”
“Okay… Sinon, Philia, Strea, Agil, Silica, and Liz, you’re with me.” Six invites from Jaymes are sent out, and Koharu… Wait a moment. Wait a moment… Sinon, Philia, Agil, Strea, Silica, and Lisbeth? What… Why not her? Why didn’t he choose her?
Seems Koharu is not the only one shocked by her omission, but no one voices it besides Kirito in a vague, confused manner. “Oh, uh, are you sure?”
Jaymes nods as he looks to where the party members would be listed if his HUD was visible. “Yes. The rest are in your party.”
“...All right. Asuna, Premiere, Klein, Alice, Leafa, and Koharu, let’s go.” Koharu accepts Kirito’s invite glumly but doesn’t voice her dissent. All she can do is watch as everyone leaps down to the floating landmass and follows along to the new area, but she cannot shake out the weight on her mind.
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Her disappointment is pushed aside momentarily as the fourteen players properly come to the new area, Vulcanus Citadel. As rumored, the area has broken ruins of fortresses and a large volcano in the distance. But for a volcano area, there is more vegetation than fire present, but then again, they are quite a distance from the volcano.
That excitement comes to a steep drop when the gang encounters a lake near the first teleport terminal. Koharu can feel her head throbbing with frustration as she and everyone else tries to cross the lake by jumping from platform to platform. If one falls in the water, they have to start the entire process over. Koharu has lost count on how many times she’s restarted, but she knows they’ve been here for over thirty minutes with only two people passing the entire area, and it’s not who one would think.
The big man Agil and little Silica. Nope, new message, add Premiere and Kirito to the list.
Angry at herself, Koharu takes a seat and throws a rock into the lake. Now her earlier anger returns, unjustified as it is. Jaymes has no reason to pick her over anyone else if she’s to be honest. She’s not even angry or jealous of the choices he made. If anything, she’s angry at herself. She assumed too much, that everything would be like the old days given time. Lisbeth may have been right, that the “honeymoon” was over between Joshua and Koharu, and now reality has set in. She believed they would continue from where they ended, but instead, they have started a new story.
Time must have passed on quicker than Koharu thought because the next thing from the calm movements of the lake she hears footsteps approaching her. “Hey, what’s keeping you here?” She looks up and behold, there he is. From the place he’s standing, he came from the opposite direction, meaning he made it to the end and came back.
She looks away scornfully. “Everyone else made it?”
“Everyone else is waiting on you. For the gymnast, I’m surprised you didn’t do it in one go… Here.” She glances up again, seeing his hand outstretched to her. Silently she takes it and stands, then he bends down a bit. “Climb on my back.”
“What? But I can--”
“If you could, you would’ve.” Koharu pouts, but he isn’t wrong. It took everyone several tries, even her, a former gymnastics athlete. With a sigh she climbs aboard his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He fully stands up and takes a light breath as he holds on to her legs. “Wow.”
“What?”
“You’re...lighter than I expected. Maybe putting points into strength wasn’t a bad idea after all.”
“...I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Right… Okay, let’s go.” Jaymes gets a running start and leaps off the ground, performing a jumping dash to the next spot, a broken bridge. Somehow he lands without dropping Koharu or falling, which she’s proud of, but he does take a break. “Okay… Give me a moment… So tell me, why were you sitting back there? We were all worried?”
Koharu drops her brow and narrows her eyes. “Surely not everyone.”
“What does that mean?”
“Someone doesn’t like me.”
“Who?”
“I can’t tell you, else it’d make things weird for you?”
“Hmm… Okay. Next jump.” After Jaymes jumps to the next landmass, he doesn’t take a break and continues to the next. There he pauses, and Koharu gets off his back to let him relax his back. “But you didn’t answer why you were sitting back there.”
“...I don’t know. I’m angry, that I know.”
“Because?”
“I thought… When we reunited in the Underworld, I thought things would go back to normal. Some things have, but others haven’t. I don’t know what to do with the parts that haven’t… Like today, when you didn’t choose me to be in your party.”
Jaymes doesn’t react much until he moves his eyes to his right and they widen. “Oh. No wonder there’s a weird energy with everyone since we got here. I didn’t notice it or mean to omit you. It’s just…”
“Things have changed. I understand that now.” Koharu stands up and turns away from Jaymes, facing the forward path. “I should have been prepared for that, but Liz was right. I...just didn’t want to believe it. And it’s not just you not picking me, that I may be able to live with, but back when we logged on… I didn’t want to spend that time with you and Liz. I wanted to be with you for that time. But…” She turns back to Jaymes, but she sees him not visibly paying attention to her. As a matter of fact, he looks terribly horrified by whatever he’s reading in front of his invisible screen. That expression vanishes as Jaymes stands up and shakes it off, and at the same time, her own frustrate evaporates. “Jaymes, is everything--”
“It’s fine, just something from my family… Oh, were you done telling me off?”
She wasn’t, yet the strange feeling that he’s different sets in again, and now she’s sure it is the root of her problem. “No, it’s fine. We should catch up with everyone else. I’ll follow your lead.”
“All right. Let's move on.”
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~Two hours later
“We’ll look ahead, but this spot seems safe. Us guys shouldn’t be long.” Klein, Agil, Jaymes, and Kirito head out to scout what lies ahead in the first region of the Vulcanus Citadel. This leaves the ten girls alone but not defenseless. Instead of being on guard, they decide to relax with snacks provided by Asuna until the men return.
“Since this is a new area, the monsters around here are bound to be strong.”
“The pro players that come to my shop were pretty desperate for me to enhance their equipment.”
“And back in town, I saw a lot of people forming parties to explore this place.”
Asuna sighs as she responds to Silica and Lisbeth. “I have a feeling we’ll get into plenty of trouble ourselves if our teamwork is even just a tiny bit off.’
Sinon chuckles. “Well, even if that’s possible, I don’t believe it. If we’re saying teamwork is the key, then you, Koharu, Kirito, and Jaymes can beat anything.”
Asuna shakes her head. “Maybe that was true long ago, but now… I’m sure it’s been apparent recently, but things have changed since Underworld. I can’t really remember what all happened down then, just flashes here and there, but something happened there and it continues to linger. On the surface, it seems we’re the same three teenagers, but I cannot feel the same bond we three forged over the years. It’s not gone, but it changed. And, of course, the obvious change in our lives…”
“Something is bothering him today,” Lisbeth says, then she faces Koharu. For the first time today, at least by what Koharu notices, Lisbeth looks at her without a shred of animosity. “Do you know?”
“A little. Family matters is all he has said.”
“So not even his ex, his best friend, or his trusted partner knows what’s up, and there’s no point asking Kirito.” Philia sighs and chews on her sandwich. “That doesn’t sound like him, he’s taking after Kirito.”
“That sounds horrible, we can’t have two of them.”
Asuna giggles at Strea’s outburst, then the smile falls as she faces Lisbeth and Koharu. “That being said, whatever he’s going through, it is his own until he opens up. And as we discussed, we’ll need teamwork to conquer this floor in the coming days. That means you two don’t need to make it more complicated than it already is.”
“Huh?”
“Call a truce, Liz. You too, Ko. There’s no need for either of you to compete. Not now, and not while he’s unaware of it. Besides--”
“Asuna! Girls!” Conversation interrupted, Koharu and the girls are alarmed by the sudden return of Klein and Agil. Both men look exhausted as if they ran for their lives, but what catches Koharu’s attention is the lack of Kirito and Jaymes. Klein answers that quickly by pointing back in the direction in which they came. “Accidently… Kirito accidentally aggroed...what looks to be a field boss. Jaymes stuck behind to help, and we-- Oh!” No other words needed to be said for Asuna and Koharu, who instinctively get on their feet and dash past the recovering adults.
“Asuna… About Jaymes, what were you going to say? And… Did you mean what you said about--”
“Forget what I said earlier, we can talk later, but for now let’s just focus on backing our idiotic boys up.” Asuna turns around as she draws her rapier, nodding to Koharu. “Just like old times.”
Koharu wants to protest, but Asuna’s right. She closes her mouth and reaches for the dagger on her back. “Right. Just like old times.”
“Hurry and back them up!”
“Shouldn’t we go and assist?”
“We’ll go, but not assist unless necessary, Little Leafa. What you’re about to see is something I’ve wanted since we reunited with Koharu again. SAO’s strongest party…finally back together again...”