Sword Art Online - Volume 22 - Chapter 4.7

7 

Merida put Roy back into the insect cage and returned it to her item list, then logged out of Serene Garden. But there was no guarantee she would do as Yuuki hoped and log in to Asuka Empire rather than Sword Art Online. 

But Yuuki could do nothing except head to the large cedar tree on the outskirts of Kiyomihara to wait and trust. 

The area around the tree was a flowing meadow, rather like the area in Teal Hills, where they’d just been. But a short distance away was a large growth of pampas grass rustling in the chilly wind, a species that didn’t exist in Serene Garden. 

A few minutes later, she heard the familiar sound of quiet, quick footsteps approaching and turned to face them. 

It was a ninja wearing very familiar light-green garb, but unlike when they usually met, this time she was already wearing her face-covering mask. She slowed down and came to a stop about five yards away from Yuuki and Ran, saying nothing. 

“……Merida…” 

Yuuki wanted to thank her for coming, but she couldn’t. There was a sharp, fierce aura exuding from Merida’s being, an invisible force that pressed down on the sisters. 

To this point, Yuuki had no experience in a player duel. She knew you could do it, of course, and she’d watched some sporty competitions between guild partners on the street, but she felt a strong aversion to the act of fighting her hardest against another player’s avatar, the representation of their physical body. 

This duel, however, was something Yuuki wanted. 

Merida wanted to go to SAO so she could sacrifice her life for something worthwhile. Whatever it was, it was something that existed in the virtual world but wasn’t an artifice. A kind of truth that existed virtually, where even the extremely sick could be just as mobile as any other player. 

In the deadly environment of SAO, thousands of players were fighting in the space between life and death. Merida had been a beta tester, and she was willing to become a prisoner of the game if it gave her the chance to fight for her old friends…for all the survivors still in there. Yuuki understood a tiny bit of this feeling. 

But at the same time, she strongly felt it was the wrong choice. If she wanted to talk about destiny, wasn’t it Merida’s destiny not to be inside SAO, because doctors had spotted her tumor? 

And even on this side of the virtual divide, there were things she could and should do. Yuuki didn’t know what those things were, but they existed. She was fighting, not speaking, to get her feelings across. 

She let out the air in her lungs over time, then sucked in a deep breath of cold virtual air and waved her right hand to bring up the player menu. 

There was one button in the menu she had never touched until just now: the DUEL button. It displayed a list of players in the area who could be challenged, so she selected Merida’s name and pressed OK. 

Merida’s eyes strayed away from Yuuki and moved lower. Her arm rose, operating a window that only she could see. Yuuki’s window displayed a message saying that her duel challenge had been accepted, and then the whole thing vanished. 

A thirty-second countdown began in the space between them. Yuuki gripped her katana in a sweaty palm and drew it from her left side. It was named Suminagashi, or Ink Washer, from the uchigatana category. It had a black Damascus pattern on the flat, and while it wasn’t particularly rare, it was easy to use. 

A moment after that, Merida readied her weapon. It was Akezuki, or Scarlet Moon, from the shinobigatana category. It was a rare weapon with a straight, deep-red blade, smaller than Yuuki’s sword, but more powerful overall. 

When the shinobi blade’s sharp tip pointed in her direction, Yuuki felt something within her chest shrivel up. 

There was no way she could avoid all of Merida’s speedy ninja attacks. In just moments, that weapon was going to pierce and slash Yuuki’s body. And Yuuki had to attack her good friend with her own katana, too. There was no real pain in the virtual world, and they were only wagering temporary numerical HP—but all the same, this was a real fight. 

Could she do it? Could she put up a proper fight against Merida on her first try? 

This duel was her idea, but now her heart was shying away from it. Her breathing became shallow, and her vision narrowed. 

“…!” 

She shivered and was about to falter backward—when she received a push in the right direction from Ran, who was watching from several yards away. 

It’s all right. She’ll understand how you feel. It’ll work if you give her your all. 

“…Sis…,” she murmured, and the shivers stopped. 

Their chances of winning were honestly higher if Ran fought, rather than Yuuki. As a shrine maiden, she wielded a variety of magic seals with keen accuracy and mastered close combat with a Shinto staff called an oonusa that she used to bludgeon opponents. Her combat ability was easily higher than Yuuki’s. Of course, Merida’s character level was higher than both of theirs, but Asuka Empire was scaled in a way that a higher level didn’t amount to a major statistical advantage. 

But if Yuuki relied upon her big sister like she so often did, Merida wasn’t going to feel Yuuki’s true emotions, even if Yuuki won the fight. 

That was right—she had to relate her feelings, her will, everything that was inside of her. 

When the countdown reached five seconds, it flashed much brighter. Yuuki watched the numbers descend: four, three, two, one. 

At zero, the numeral expanded outward as a circle of light and vanished. 

“Iyaaaaaaah!!” Yuuki roared with all her strength as she pushed off the ground. A samurai’s agility was inferior to a ninja’s, but there was one case in which she had better propulsion: when charging with a slice attack. She crossed the five-yard gap with a single jump, right at Merida, and swung her katana down from overhead. 

But the moment she caught sight of those green eyes behind her face mask, eyes the same shade as in Serene Garden, Yuuki’s arms seized up against her will. The ink-colored blade wavered and slid off-center to the right. Against a monster, that kind of variation wasn’t a problem, but Merida was too much of a veteran to let that opportunity pass. 

With a whip of torn air, Merida evaded to the left with teleport-level speed. Yuuki’s slash cut empty air, leaving only a faint visual effect behind. 

Then a fierce shock ran through her left shoulder. Yuuki was knocked right off her feet, and she tumbled to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw nearly a tenth of her LP disappear. She rolled into the momentum, using the opportunity to get farther out of range before standing up. 

Once in fighting position again, Yuuki saw Merida extending her left palm, rather than the shinobi sword in her right. 

Ninjas had martial arts skills, but when she realized that a bare-handed attack through her shoulder armor had done so much damage on its own, Yuuki’s breath caught in her throat. 

She was tough—not that it was a surprise. 

Or maybe she just thought she understood that. In all their time together, Merida had been more of an adviser or instructor to Yuuki and Ran. By spending as little time as possible attacking monsters, she made sure the sisters got as much experience as they could. 

She’d seen only a tiny glimpse of Merida’s true ability. That knowledge alone was enough to freeze Yuuki in her tracks. 

“It was the same way for me at first,” said a soft voice coming from behind the face mask. A hint of a smile could be heard in the voice. “The first time I dueled another player in SAO, my arms locked up, and I couldn’t hit them at all. It’s not like attacking a character on your monitor. You can tell yourself that it’s not a real person, that it’s just a digital avatar, but your body can’t keep up with that knowledge…It took me two weeks to have a decent duel at last.” 

“…How were you able to fight?” Yuuki asked her ninja opponent. 

Merida glanced at the cloudy sky above, as though consulting her memories. “When I was fighting another person using a one-handed sword like I was, they said that dueling isn’t just trying to kill the other person. It’s a dialogue between two swords. That’s true for traditional online games, VRMMOs, and maybe even sporting competition in the real world. So when you said we should fight, I was just the tiniest bit surprised.” 

Yes—there was something Yuuki wanted to say to Merida. She couldn’t put it into words, but it was there, hot and writhing deep in her core. She’d challenged Merida to the duel in the hope that clashing sword against sword might help that message get across. 

If her arms shrank back like they did at first, no messages would be getting across. She had to push past her fears and hesitation and move forward. Forward, forward, always forward…right to where Merida would feel it. 

“…There are some things you can’t get past without confronting them,” Yuuki whispered to herself. But Merida heard and nodded. She flipped the shinobi blade around to hold it backhanded and brandished it diagonally. Yuuki raised the katana high again. 

This time, it was Merida who moved first. 

She leaned far forward, transforming into a gust of light-green wind as she charged right for Yuuki. She wasn’t going to make it easy this time. Yuuki had to defend against the ultrafast ninja slash or evade it and turn that into a counterattack. She was staring, focusing on the dull reflection of sunlight on the deep-red blade, when she thought she heard a voice. 

Don’t look at the weapon—look at all of Merida, Yuu! 

Instantly, Yuuki’s eyes were open wide, expanding her vision. 

Merida’s right hand held the shinobigatana in front. Her left hand was obscured behind the blade, but she could see something shining within her clenched fist. 

The sword is a feint. The first attack will come from her left…a shuriken! 

The second Merida’s other hand blurred, Yuuki brought down her katana directly toward the instant of reflected light she saw. 

There was a high-pitched clang! and a shower of white sparks. The cross-shaped shuriken, deflected by Yuuki’s swing, flew rotating back toward Merida. This was the effect of the samurai-class skill Parry. 

“…!” 

The ninja exhaled briefly, then smacked the shuriken with her shinobi sword. The reflection from the shuriken vanished off and up to the right, where Yuuki need not pay any more attention to it. She lunged toward Merida, who was now off-balance. 

Her range was good. No more hesitation. 

She wasn’t attacking out of hatred, or the desire to win or kill. She was swinging to show Merida what could exist beyond the skills she’d taught. 

“Rrraaaah!” she bellowed, flipping her wrists and slashing up from below. Despite Yuuki’s awkward stance, the black blade slid through Merida’s torso as she tried to jump backward and out of the way. 

Zassh!! There was firm feedback in Yuuki’s hands. The follow-through of the swing left her arms high, sending crimson illumination high into the air. Above Merida’s head, her LP bar dropped about 15 percent. 

Going by the theory of combat against monsters, this was the time to open a ground circle, activate a skill, and deliver major damage to an enemy under a movement delay. But Merida wasn’t likely to leave herself that open, just from a single hit. Her follow-up should be a normal attack—but with everything Yuuki had riding on it. 

She raised her katana overhead for the third time. 

Merida used the momentum of that upward attack to perform a backflip in the air. 

Yuuki launched herself forward, aiming for the moment when her opponent hit the ground. 

“Haaaaah!!” she roared from the very bottom of her gut, preparing to deliver her best swing. 

Wham! The air burst. 

While airborne and looking down at Yuuki, Merida jumped off the air with both feet. That was the ninja-class skill Double Jump. 

“Cheyaaa!” she shouted for the first time in this fight and plunged. The shinobi blade in her right hand was a flash of crimson, heading straight for Yuuki’s throat. 

The slashing speed advantage belonged to Merida for being a ninja, but Yuuki had started earlier. So at the moment, their timing was equal. But if Yuuki gave in to fear now and gave anything less than full dedication to the attack, she would get hit by the counter. 

What did Yuuki want to tell Merida? 

That she would get much, much stronger. 

The world was endlessly expanding beyond the walls of the closed-off, deadly SAO. There were so many people to meet, discoveries to make, and stories to experience, in worlds virtual and real. 

I’ll take you wherever we can go. 

I’ll find you a new destiny, Merida. 

Just don’t leave… 

“…Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!” 

Bright light expanded outward. Shining particles burst away from her avatar like stars. The resistance of the compressed atmosphere against her blade reached a maximum, then gave way as she broke through. 

Yuuki’s katana swung downward, a pure beam of light, in absolute silence. 

An instant later, Merida’s shinobi blade brushed the left side of her neck as it went past. 

At the end of her swing, Yuuki couldn’t move. Once sound returned to the world, a crimson damage effect spurted noisily from her neck wound. Over 20 percent of her LP disappeared. 

Stumbling, she turned to see Merida, frozen at the end of her follow-through. Suddenly and silently, she split from the shoulder of her ninja garb through her back, and a huge visual effect sprayed from the cut. From its total of 85 percent, Merida’s LP gauge rapidly decreased, stopping only when it had gone just under 50 percent. 

Da-doom! With a taiko drum booming, a window appeared, announcing the end of the duel. Yuuki gasped with surprise. She blinked several times, wide-eyed, but nothing changed what she was looking at: a message that read, Winner: Yuuki. 

“B-but why…? We’re not…,” she stammered. 

Merida stood up straight and turned around, sliding her shinobigatana into the sheath at her waist. She smiled. 

“In Asuka, you can duel to the death in showdown mode or simply go down to half your LP in bout mode. I chose bout mode when you challenged me, so this one’s all you, Yuuki. You won. Congratulations…You were really tough. You stunned me.” 

“Um…I…” 

She was going to deflect it, to say that she still had so far to go, but that was when it truly hit her. 

She’d won the duel. But she didn’t know if she’d gotten her message across. Her friend was standing there smiling at her, but she still looked so fragile, like she might melt away in the sunlight. Yuuki was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t even remember to sheathe her sword. 

“If I’m really that strong,” she said, letting the words come to her in the moment, “then it’s thanks to you, Merida. I got stronger because you taught me so many things. I said I’d help you find something that you could burn your life away doing. I don’t know what that is yet…but I promise you. I’m going to be even stronger…and I’ll never stop…I’ll just keep getting stronger…” 

She tried to mold the thoughts she had in battle, to form them into words, but her voice gave out. In and out she breathed, trying to collect herself, but it wasn’t happening. 

Instead, Merida lowered her mask and beamed. It was the exact same smile she made when they first met in Serene Garden. 

“I heard you, Yuuki.” 

“Huh…?” 

“I could feel how you felt through your sword. And not just your feelings about me…I felt all kinds of things from you. Um…I’m not that smart, so I might not be saying this right. But your strength…No, something bigger than that. Ummm…” 

Now it was Merida who was mumbling, searching for the right word. 

“…Your possibilities,” said a soft voice that drew the two girls’ attention. 

The speaker was Ran, who had been watching their duel from beneath the large cedar tree. The shrine maiden smiled, warm and gentle, like she always did, and glided over to the duelists. 

“You meant possibilities, didn’t you, Merida?” 

“Yes, that!” she said, snapping her fingers and nodding furiously. “There’s so much that’s packed inside of you, Yuuki. Your strength in the duel was just a tiny part of it…You’re going to be so much stronger and bigger than you are now. To the point that people are going to know your name in all kinds of worlds one day.” 

“…No…I’m not that special…,” Yuuki mumbled, staring at Merida in numb shock. 

There was no longer any hint of desperation in her expression, although the translucent fragility was still there. Yuuki wanted to ask her if she’d reconsidered her plan to go into SAO or if she was still resolute. 

But then Ran came up on her right and rested a hand on Yuuki’s shoulder. “Merida, Yuuki, I want to tell you something I’ve been thinking about,” she said. 

“…What, Ran?” 

“I want the three of us to make a guild. And bit by bit, we can add new people…new friends, and make our little circle bigger.” 

She reached down and squeezed Yuuki’s hand. Then she held out her other arm toward Merida, who was standing a little farther away. Without thinking, Yuuki extended her other hand toward Merida, too. 

Merida looked at their hands but hesitated, confused. “But, Ran…we’re…” 

Yes. That was on Yuuki’s mind, too. 

The three had met in a VR hospice. They shared the reality of terminal illness. They could start a guild in Asuka Empire and recruit new members, but they couldn’t keep the fact of their condition a secret forever. One day, they would have to explain the truth. Or perhaps the truth would arrive before they could tell that story. 

The closer they got to other guild members, the harder that moment would be. The guild itself might fracture and fall apart. Ran would know that, of course. 

“One day…one day, we’ll overcome this disease and keep the circle expanding…as far as it can go, I hope…,” Ran whispered, then collected herself. “I think that at first, we should recruit people in the same position as us. I think there are others in Serene Garden who want to see the outside world like us, to go farther. We should invite them to our guild and go to the very limits of the virtual worlds out there. The same way you pulled the two of us to join you, Merida.” 

Her hand was still extended, firm and unwavering. Merida’s eyes were flared with surprise, fixed on Ran. 

A breeze rustled the needles of the massive cedar tree. There was no lasting sign of their duel on the field any longer. The blue sky, a different shade from Serene Garden’s, held trailing wisps of clouds that slid quietly along. A hawk circled, calm and regal, high above. 

The world map of Asuka Empire was based loosely on what was today known as the Kinki region. On the east end was Mount Fuji, and on the west end were the Kanmon Straits separating Honshu and Kyushu—although all the places in-game had fictional names. In the next major update, however, they were supposed to be adding the Kanto region around Tokyo, and the island of Kyushu. The world was getting larger here, and it would probably do the same in other places, like ALfheim Online. 

I’m sure we’ll find what we’re looking for, Merida. New places for us. New friends for us. And a fate worth fighting for. 

The words passed through her mind as she reached for all she was worth. 

At last, Merida’s emerald-green eyes rippled like water. The pure, shining light turned into droplets that ran silently down her cheeks. 

Unlike everything else, these tears were the exact same shade as those in Serene Garden. Merida’s voice emerged, hoarse with emotion. 

“…Well…I guess that settles it…After a speech like that…there’s no way I can leave you two behind…” 

Her right foot, covered in a thick ninja tabi sock, ground itself against the grass a few times. Then she made up her mind and pushed forward. 

One, two, three steps…Slowly but resolutely, she approached the twins. Merida lifted her hands and grabbed Ran’s and Yuuki’s. Her grip was firm and strong. 

“It’s a very small circle,” she said, smiling tearfully. 

Yuuki squeezed back with all the strength she had. “But it’s so much bigger than the circle of just me and Sis.” 

She smiled, and tears of her own poured from her eyes. She couldn’t wipe them away if she wanted to, so they just dripped and dripped without end. Through her blotted, colorful vision, she could still see the smile on Merida’s face. 

“Ha-ha…Yuuki, you look incredible. If you cry that hard, you’re going to come out with tears on your cheeks in real life.” 

“That’s fine. I’m just so happy.” 

She tried to blink the virtual tears away, until Ran finally had mercy on her and let go so she could use the sleeve of her miko robe to rub Yuuki’s face. 

“You’re so strong and yet still such a crybaby, Yuu,” she said, although her cheeks were shining, too. Yuuki squeezed Ran’s hand again and looked up at the sky. 

The hawk had flown off somewhere else, but the sky itself was still beautiful. It felt like it connected to the sky of Serene Garden—and the sky in the real world, too. 

Let’s go—wherever we will, hand in hand. For the sake of the worlds and the people to come. 

Yuuki could feel the door in her heart, closed ever since the unwanted school transfer in fifth grade, finally opening a crack. 

She didn’t know how much time she had left. But if her life was shorter than average, that just meant she needed to run faster and bolder. In the real world, she might be confined to her bed, but in the virtual world, her possibilities were endless. 

“…It’s time to go back now,” said Merida. She squeezed Yuuki’s and Ran’s hands one last time to dispel their anxieties, then let go. “I told Mom I’d meet her back at the café by three o’clock. Yuuki, Ran…I’m sorry for ruining your birthday like this. I feel terrible.” 

Merida tried to bow in apology, but Ran grabbed her shoulders. “You don’t need to say sorry, Merida. It’s been a wonderful birthday. I mean, you came all this way to visit us, didn’t you?” 

Yuuki added, “I was…I was really happy, too! Please…please, Merida, come meet me on the other side!” 

Ran turned and gave her a look of surprise, but Yuuki continued talking. 

“Listen, for my own reasons, I’m in a clean room right now, but you can see me through the glass from the monitoring room next door. I can’t hold your hand, but I still want to be able to see you.” 

She was still sworn to secrecy about the Medicuboid, so she wasn’t sure Dr. Kurahashi would allow her to have a meeting, even through glass. But she had a feeling he wasn’t going to refuse them. It was her fourteenth birthday, after all. 

“…Okay! Once I’m back out, I’ll go right over to see you, Yuuki,” Merida stated, nodding forcefully. 

There was no longer any hint of fragility in her expression.