"Hey, Mom, just calling again to check in with you," started Shino as she held her cell phone to her ear, leaving a voice mail for her mother, who, once again, didn't pick up when she called. "Everything is still going well on my end. I've...made a lot of progress with my fear of guns. I think...you'd be really proud of me. A-Also, I...feel like I've gotten some closure with what happened at the post office. The closure I needed; I think. I-I really hope that, one day, you can get some closure with what happened as well, mom. You deserve that much. A-Anyways, I hope everything is going well with you, on your end. And, if you have time, please call me back. I really miss you and it feels like we haven't talked in forever. Okay. Love you, mom. Bye."
Shino hung up her cell phone, as soon as she finished leaving her message for her mother.
"Why won't you answer, mom?" Shino asked herself, sadly. "Are you mad at me...for what happened at the post office or...are you mad at yourself? Knowing you, it's probably the latter. I just wish things could go back to normal so badly but I know that's impossible."
*
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*
The next day, Shino found herself staring at a headstone with the name "Ikeda Masaru," engraved onto it. It didn't take much research on Shino's end to find out the location of where he had been buried since the incident with the post office was all over the news. It made Shino sick to her stomach, thinking about how news agencies and reporters made such a spectacle out of such an awful incident for everyone involved. She had decided to visit the grave, after her conversation with Ikeda's son, Kudo, when the two of them fought in the first round of the Bullet of Bullets. Now that she was standing in front of the gravestone, though, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Shino took a deep breath, feeling herself getting stressed just from standing in front of the headstone of the man responsible for the trauma that both her and her mother had to constantly deal with on a day-day basis.
"I-I spoke with your son," Shino spoke to the headstone. "I-It was always a fear of mine. That the man I was responsible for killing...had a family and, now, I know that you do. A good family, for that matter. A good family that...you're never going to be able to see, again, because of what I did. I know I shouldn't have any regrets. If I hadn't acted when I did, there's no telling what you would have done to my mom. I protected her from you but, in the process, made the biggest mistake of my entire life. I-I hated you for so long. I hated you for the pain you caused my mom and I both. I put all of the blame, solely, on you. But, I've realized that hasn't done me any good. I'll never be able to understand why you did what you did and your son seems to hate you for it. However, for some reason, I believe that you did have a reason for holding up that post office, even if I hate to admit it. I guess, what I'm trying to say is that...even though, a part of me still resents you for what you did...I-I still apologize for taking away your chance at ever seeing your family, again. I-If I could go back in time and, somehow, resolve that conflict, without having to resort to violence, I would. Although, there's no point in thinking that way, is there? This...isn't easy for me to say but...I...I...forgive you...for what you did. I don't know if that's worth much, at this point, but...I just...wanted to let you know that.
Shino sighed to herself.
"Life...can be a cruel thing, sometimes. So, so cruel."
Shino felt as though she had gotten everything off of her stomach that she had wanted to and began walking away from the gravestone, feeling like she had gotten even more closure with what happened at the post office.
*
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*
It had felt like I had spent days staring at my computer screen, reading different articles about the appearance of Death Gun and the impact he was having on the release of GGO. That was most likely because for the last couple of days, other than hanging out with Asuna a few times, the only thing I did was sit at this computer screen, hoping to learn something...anything about the masked man, who was responsible for killing Klein and putting Asuna through so much. Upon hearing what he had forced her to do in the first round of the Bullet of Bullets Tournament, it had caused me to become obsessed with finding out as much information about this man as possible so I could bring him down. It was the only thing I could do to help Asuna. Whenever I visited her, ever since what happened in that first round, I could just tell it was eating away at her. She had made so much progress in terms of her trauma and that son of a bitch, Death Gun, made everything even worse for her. I couldn't forgive that. Although, the countless articles that I read about the bastard didn't lead me to any clues about his identity. All the articles really talked about was how GGO was seeing a small drop-in activity from the player base because of the fear that they might suffer the same fate as Klein did. That was another thing. Klein's death. There was just so much that didn't sit right with me about it, the more I thought about it. After doing some digging into the creation of GGO, it seemed like the company responsible for making it had taken every initiative to make sure that no one would get injured, let alone killed. The company was all too aware of the fear towards VR that was apparent because of the SAO incident. The last thing that they wanted was a repeat of this. Then, how did Death Gun manage to kill Klein with that gun of his in VR? It would have helped if I knew how exactly he died but given how angry Kana was with me, I seriously doubted she would willingly tell me the details. She was the only one who knew since she was the one that found him. It wasn't her fault. I could only imagine how I would react if I found Asuna wearing her Nerve Gear and no longer being alive. Kana was just coping in her own way. And, a part of her was right. It was, partially, my fault that Klein had died. I was too busy fighting Vassago and if I would have just ran by him, to free Klein, then I could have made it in time.
"Kazuto, someone is here for you!" called Suguha, from the living room.
Figuring that I needed a break from, lifelessly, staring at the computer screen in front of me, I forced myself to get out of my chair and make my way out of my bedroom. As soon as I arrived in the living room, I discovered that the very woman I was just thinking about was sitting on our couch. Kana. The same woman, who had just slapped me at Klein's funeral, not too long ago...in fact, that was the last time I saw her. Suguha was nowhere to be found and must have headed back to her room, after allowing Kana into our home. The tension in the air was unsettling and I couldn't prevent a dark thought from entering my mind. What if...Kana was here to hurt me or my family? What would I do if that was the case? If it was just me, would I merely let her kill me? Probably. My death for Klein's would be fair. However, I knew I couldn't let her hurt any of my other family members...I'd protect them by force if I had to.
"I'm sorry for visiting you like this, Kirito," apologized Kana, causing me return back to reality. "Your sister seems nice. I guess...it runs in the family."
I couldn't bare all of the possible outcomes floating around inside of my head about why Kana was visiting me so I, finally, mustered up the courage to do so, flat out, "Why are you here, Kana? I thought...you hated me...for what happened with Klein?"
Kana leaned back into the couch and sighed.
"I don't hate you, Kirito. The woman at that funeral...the same one that had slapped you...that wasn't me...that was a grieving mess of a person, who took all of her anger out on a couple of kids. Kids that Klein was friends with, on top of that. Skipping to the point, I-I'm sorry for blaming you for Klein's death. I know it wasn't your fault...I'm, painfully, aware. I'm sure you did everything you could to save him. You know, I could never understand why that idiot kept going back into the same VR world that almost took his life, once. To be honest, I always thought it was stupid...and selfish. The more I think about it, though, I realize, he had a very good reason to keep going back in...you guys...you were the only thing each other had when you were all trapped in that death game. Hell...you...Asuna...Agil...you all took care of Klein while he was trapped in SAO and because of you, specifically, Kirito, Klein woke up, again. The fact that I blamed you for Klein's death, after being the one, who already saved him once, was cruel and petty on my part."
"It's not fair," I said, after hearing Kana's apology speech. "Klein was a survivor of SAO...he had already gone through so much and as soon as he was beginning to figure out his life, something like this happens. I just don't understand why I keep losing people. Lisbeth...Klein. I'm...honestly terrified of losing anyone else. I appreciate your apology, Kana, but I'm still keeping my word. I'm going to find out who this Death Gun is and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. I'm not losing another one of my friends, no matter what."
"Ha, there it is," Kana recognized, smiling.
All I could do was look at her in confusion, not having a single clue about what she was talking about.
"Klein looked up to you so much. You may be a lot younger than him but he always thought that you were so much braver and stronger than he was. He would talk about this fierce look of determination that you would have in your eyes, once you set your mind on something. I feel like...that's the same thing I see in your eyes, right now. You've already cleared SAO. You've saved Asuna from that monster of a man, who kidnapped her. This Death Gun, whoever he may be, isn't going to be any different for you, Kirito. You'll defeat him and avenge Klein because...because your 'The Black Swordsman,' after all."
Despite my burning distaste for that nickname, I couldn't argue that hearing it brought up in this manner from Kana was a big improvement from the malice that she had said it with, before, back at the funeral.
"Well, I won't take up anymore of your time," claimed Kana, getting up from the couch, ready to leave. "Thank you for listening to me and, again, I'm sorry for blaming you, Kirito. Believe me when I say, none of this is your fault. It's all...that bastard, Death Gun's. I hope that, whoever he is, he gets what's coming to him."
A thought popped into my mind with Kana's mention of Death Gun about how I still didn't know the cause of Klein's death. Kana, definitely, seemed to be in a better state of mind for me to ask her about how Klein died but that still didn't make it any less awkward for me to ask.
"Hey, Kana, before you leave, I...was wondering...how did Klein die? The only reason I ask is because I feel like knowing that information may help me in trying to figure out the identity of Death Gun."
Kana looked conflicted about the question but forced a response, "His heart stopped."
Such a simple and short answer but the impact that it had on me was exponential. His brain wasn't fried which was what happened to players in the real world when they died in SAO. This was, completely, different.
"Oh, I see," I replied, sadly. "I'm...sorry for asking you that. I'm sure that the last thing you want to do is relive that horrible memory."
"No, it's perfectly fine. I remember when I first found Klein, still wearing his Nerve Gear and thought he was just still playing the game. It was only when I checked his heart beat, out of concern, that I figured out that something wasn't right. The coroner explained to me that heart failure is what caused Klein's death and began asking me about different things concerning Klein's overall health. I mean, he wasn't the healthiest person in the world but...having a heart attack at his age...seems weird to me."
"I have to wonder if Klein's health even had anything to do with it, especially with Death Gun being so heavily involved in the incident?"
"Yeah, good point. I was thinking the same thing. Still, I don't know what Death Gun could have done to force someone to have heart failure like that. Unfortunately, I'm not a doctor and if the coroner couldn't figure it out, the odds of me being able to is pretty slim."
The same was true for me as well. My medical knowledge was severely lacking as well, in comparison to subjects I was more efficient at such as math, coding and anything concerning technology. This was way out of my field of knowledge but it was still something to go off of. Klein died from heart failure. I wasn't sure how this would help me figure out the identity of Klein's killer but I had a feeling it would, somehow.
"Thanks, Kana."
"It's nothing. I really do hope that it helps you find out Klein's killer, Kirito. Although, you be careful. It's obvious that this Death Gun guy is dangerous and none of us know what he's truly capable of. The last thing I want is for you or Asuna to get hurt, trying to avenge Klein's death. In fact, I'm sure that if Klein was here, he would do everything he could to make sure that wouldn't happen. I'm not Klein, though. Still, if there's anything else I can do to help, don't hesitate to let me know."
After giving me her contact information so I could enter into my phone, in case I had any more questions for her, Kana left my home, as the only thing I could focus on was the real cause of Klein's death. I decided that since researching Death Gun, himself, wasn't giving me any leads, it would be better to do some research on heart failure, instead. With that, I returned to my room, with a newfound determination and a new lead to go off of.
Author's Note: Hello, thank you so much for reading this week's chapter! It was another slower and character focused chapter with the main theme being forgiveness. We also, get some information about Klein's death from Kana as well which will prove to be important in trying to figure out the means of how Death Gun is able to kill people in the real world from the VR one. Starting next week, the second round of the Bullets of Bullets tournament will begin and I plan on taking a, slightly, more action focused approach with the chapters so I hope that you enjoy them and I look forward to you all seeing them. See you, next week!