Sword Art Online - Volume 7 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Asuna stared at the short message on the little screen of her mobile phone and repeated the same words inside her heart.
How was this possible!?
How was this possible? Yuuki had been actively taking part in all sorts of activities, and Doctor Kurahashi even said that the tumor inside her head had disappeared. In recent years, there have been cases of people being able to hold back the inhibition of the virus after being infected by HIV for more than 20 years. Yuuki's only 15...her life was about to begin! Her condition was worsening, but up till now, she had several opportunistic infections that caused her to fall ill, so Yuuki would definitely be able to hang on.
But Asuna herself had another premonition. This was the first time the doctor sent a message to her directly. In other words, this should be a notice—that the moment had arrived. Every night, she would dread that moment, but would always try her best to shake off that notion. Right now, the time has come.
The girl had two conflicting thoughts in her as she remained stunned on the spot for a few seconds before blinking hard and getting ready to send a new message. She sent a message with the same content to Kirito, Lisbeth and company and also Shiune and the rest. After that, Asuna hurriedly took off her indoor clothes, and as she didn't want to waste time choosing any clothing, she systematically put on her school uniform. She put on her shoes and ran out of the house. The gentle light of day in the afternoon was reflected on the remaining white snow on the road as they entered Asuna's eyes.
It's the Sunday on the last week of March, 2pm. The pedestrians on the streets looked like they were impatient and couldn't wait for spring to come as they walked with a cheery attitude. Asuna went past them and rushed towards the station.
She couldn't remember how she managed to check where the trains were going or even where she transferred. Once she recovered, Asuna found herself running to the gantry of the station. Deep inside her mind, it felt like there was a migraine, as her shattered thoughts continued to appear and disappear.
The girl grit her teeth and grimaced, "Yuuki, hang on." And ran into the taxi that arrived at the waiting point.

It seemed that the inpatient counter was notified. Once Asuna opened her tense lips to explain her intents, the nurse immediately handed over the pass and told her to hurry to the highest level of the central ward building.
Asuna hastily waited for the number that indicated the floor number to increase, and when the door opened, she immediately rushed out. She clumsily used the access pass on the scanner of the safety door, and even though she knew that she was breaking the rules, she continued to run. She ran through the white monotonous passageway. Once she made the last turn, the door to the sterile room where Yuuki lay asleep entered her eyes.
—But at this moment, Asuna could only stare wide eyed at the scene.
There were two doors lined with each other, and this should be the entrance to the observation room. Deep inside with large words of regulations was the sterile room. Asuna went through the thick enhanced doors before, and now, they were completely open. As she looked at the scene inside, one of the medical personnel in surgical clothing inside walked over quickly.
That person saw Asuna and nodded at her, even whispering 'Please hurry in'. While being prompted by that voice, Asuna shakily took a few steps forward, and yet stopped right in front of the door.
The insides of a white room immediately entered her vision.
The large number of apparatus that were installed inside were moved to the left wall. Two nurses and a doctor surrounded a gel bed in the middle of the room, watching over the petite figure there. The three people all wore ordinary white clothes.
Seeing this, Asuna immediately realized—nothing could be done. They could only wait beside the bed for 'that moment' which had already been pre-destined.
Doctor Kurahashi lifted his head, saw that Asuna was here, and immediately reached his left hand over as he wanted her to come over. Asuna struggled to move those lifeless legs of hers and entered the room.
There were only a few meters to the gel bed, yet she felt that it was ever so far away. Asuna was closing in on this harsh reality, and finally arrived beside the gel bed.
The skinny girl was lying on the bed, and the white blanket covered her all the way below her neck. Her frail chest was slightly suspended. The ECG on the top right corner showed a slight green waveform.
The Mebicuboid obscured the girl's head when she saw it previously, but its rectangular casing was now separated into halves. The top portion that split apart at the line between her ears was shifted 90 degrees to the back. The inside was a depression that fitted a human head and the face of that girl, sleeping with her eyes closed, was set in it.
This was the first time Asuna saw Yuuki's body in the real world. The girl who was so sickly was so thin that it was heart-aching, with her skin almost pale enough to be deemed translucent. Her face had a mysterious beauty to it, and Asuna even felt that this is what a pixie would look like if they really existed.
After staring at Yuuki for a while, Doctor Kurahashi, who was standing beside her, whispered,
"That's great...you made it just in time."
Unable to accept such words that she was able to make it in time, Asuna looked up at the doctor, but the rational eyes behind the lens looked back at Asuna earnestly. The doctor said again,
"40 minutes ago, her heart stopped once. We gave her drugs and a defibrillation shock, and she regained her pulse, but the next time..."
Asuna held her breath and let out her voice between her tightly gritted teeth. However, she couldn't say a meaningful complete sentence,
"Why...why is it...Yuuki, she's still..."
The doctor again nodded his head, and then shook it slightly.
"—Actually, when you were here in January, she was already in a state where such a thing could happen. The HIV's consumptive nature caused the high fever and the lymphoma in the primary central nervous system to deteriorate, and Yuuki had been in danger. However, we're all amazed that she was able to fight hard for these 3 months. She continued to win even in a battle of despair. She really did her best...no—if I really have to mention it..."
At this moment, the doctor's voice let out some trembling.
"To Yuuki, these 15 years of life was a long battle. Besides HIV...she had been fighting hard against the cold and harsh reality. The testing of Medicuboid should have given her lots of pain. But...Yuuki still persisted. Without her help, it's likely that Medicuboid can only be used a year later or so. So right now—it's best to let her rest..."
Upon hearing the doctor's words, Asuna silently said to Yuuki deep inside her heart,
Yuuki—how could you lose? You're the «Absolute Sword»...that invincible swordsman who could slash everything up. You should be able to defeat the illness and your fate—
At this moment.
Yuuki's head moved slightly. Her thin eyelids moved slightly before moving a little higher. The eyes under the eyelids that were supposed to be grey due to having lost its shine showed a clear shine as they stared at Asuna.
The lips that were about the same color as the skin twitched slightly, and the slender right hand that was under the blanket started to tremble as it slowly moved towards Asuna.
The doctor said with a conscious voice,
"Asuna-san...please hold her hand."
Before he even finished, Asuna immediately reached her hands out and covered Yuuki's right hand that was as thin as coal. The icy right hand seemed to be begging for something as it clasped onto Asuna's fingers tightly.
Immediately, Asuna seemed to have an epiphany or something as she understood what Yuuki wanted to say.
She held onto Yuuki's hand tightly and lifted her head to ask the doctor,
"Doctor...can we use the Medicuboid now?"
"Eh—it can be done once we turn on the power...but...Yuuki should be hoping to be outside the machine..."
"No, Yuuki wishes to return to that world once more. I can understand her feelings. Please...let her use the Medicuboid again!"
The doctor stared at Asuna's face for a few seconds before finally agreeing to her request. He gave a few instructions to the nurses beside him, and then held on to the handle on the side of the Medicuboid before covering the top half on Yuuki's head.
"It'll take about 1 minute to activate it...what about you?"
"I'll use the AmuSphere next door!"
Asuna said and grabbed Yuuki's hand hard before putting it back at the frail girl's side. Wait for me, I'll be right there—after muttering that, she got up and left.
Asuna ran out of the sterile room and arrived at the monitoring room beside it. She opened the door and jumped onto one of the two seats that appeared, and put the AmuSphere that was on the head-rest on her head. She switched on the power and waited for the launching sequence to start, but her heart was already at the other side.

Having woken up in the house of forests, Asuna leaped out of the window beside the room like she did when she logged in from the hospital, and moved down the main street. As she flew, she opened her window and immediately sent a message over to Lisbeth, Shiune and the rest, whom she had told to log in earlier just in case.
Having rushed through the transfer gate, Asuna transferred to Panareze without hesitation. The moment she arrived at the city above the lake, she moved over to an island far into the lake. Of course, her final destination was the large tree where they first met.
At this point, it's evening in Aincrad. The sunset that shone in from the outside dyed the lake water golden. Asuna looked like she was guided by this light as she flew in the sky to this island before landing urgently on the soft pasture.
She didn't need to look around the trees. Yuuki was standing where both of them had fought for the first time. What happened that day seemed to have been a long time ago. The deep purple long hair that had some chilly feeling to it swayed in the air, and the imp girl slowly looked back.
Yuuki immediately smiled as she saw Asuna approach, and Asuna smiled back at her.
"—Thank you, Asuna. I forgot something important. I have something I must return, so no matter what, I have to meet you here."
Her voice was as cheery as before, and one could hear a little trembling. Asuna felt that Yuuki had already used all her strength trying to talk.
However, Asuna asked back in a cheery tone as she walked over to Yuuki,
"What did you want to give me?"
"E-rm...I'll make it now. Please wait."
Yuuki smiled and called out the window before operating on it simply. After making the window disappear, she used her right hand and drew the sword at her waist loudly.
Yuuki's obsidian sword let out a flame-like red glow under the red sunset. She moved this sword to the front and pointed it at the large tree trunk in front of her, keeping this position until she was still, as if she was focusing the last ounce of her strength on the sword's tip.
The side of Yuuki's face distorted in pain. Her upper body swayed a little, but the legs that were opened were still trying hard to support the body.
Asuna really wanted to tell her not to force herself, but decided to bite her lips and wait. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past the pasture. As the wind stopped, Yuuki suddenly moved.
"YAAA!!!"

The girl's right hand was swung out with such a shocking shout. The tip of the sword left 5 stab marks at a speed the naked eye couldn't see from the top right to the bottom left of the trunk. She drew the sword back, and left 5 marks from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. For each stab the lunge skill made, the trunk would make an exaggerated loud noise, and the towering trees continued to shake. If the trees were things that could be destroyed, they would be sliced in half already.
Having launched 10 strikes of the lunge skill, Yuuki used the strength in her entire body to pull the sword back and hit the intersection point. The blueish-purple dazzling light exploded all around, and the grass beside their feet bent backwards, looking like they were tossed away.
Even when the frenzy storm stopped, Yuuki, who stabbed the sword into the trunk, remained in her original position.
Suddenly, a small crest appeared in the center of the sword's tip. It spun and spread out, and also, a square parchment materialized from the surface of the branch. Once the crest that let out the blue glow was transferred onto the parchment, the parchment rolled up from the bottom.
Yuuki kept her sword, and the completed scroll floated in the air. She gradually reached out with her left hand and grabbed it.
The sword in the girl's right hand landed on the grass pasture, letting out a 'Ka-yan' sound. Yuuki's body swayed a little and moved backwards. Asuna hurriedly ran over to her to support her. Both of them sat down just like that, and Asuna used both her arms to hug Yuuki's small body.
Yuuki closed her eyes, causing Asuna to be shocked. But those eyelids immediately opened slowly. Yuuki let out a calm smile, and then seemed to murmur,
"That's strange...I've never felt pain or sadness, but I just feel weak..."
Asuna smiled back and said,
"It's alright. You're just tired. Just rest a little. You'll recover immediately."
"Un...Asuna...take this...it's my...OSS..."
This voice was completely different from before. It was stuttering and trembling at the same time. The one organ Yuuki had left, the brain where the consciousness was gathered, was about to wear out. This made Asuna rage inside, but she still held her emotions in check as she smiled and said,
"Are you really going to give it to me...?"
"I hope that...you will accept this...Asuna...here...open the window..."
"...Un."
Asuna waved her left hand to summon the window and opened the OSS settings menu. Yuuki raised her trembling hands and put the little scroll she was holding right onto the surface of the window. Once the scroll disappeared with the light, Yuuki sighed in a satisfied manner and put her left hand down. She smiled gently and seemed to be wheezing as she muttered,
"The name...of the skill...is «Mother's Rosario»...I suppose...it can help me...protect Asuna..."
On hearing these words, Asuna's tears finally landed on Yuuki's chest, but she still smiled and said with a clear voice,
"Thank you, Yuuki—I promise you, if I have to leave this world someday, I'll definitely pass this sword skill over to others. Your sword...shall live on forever."
"Un...thank you..."
Yuuki nodded her head. The amethyst eyes were letting out something glowing.
At this moment, there were several rumblings, or rather, sounds of flying being heard as they came closer. There were sounds of boots landing on the grass patch around Asuna and Yuuki. As they looked up, 5 people, Jun, Thatch, Taruken, Nori and Shiune were all over them and came running over.
They formed a semicircle around Yuuki and knelt down. Yuuki looked around at every face and showed a troubled look.
"What's with everyone...didn't we have, a farewell before...I told you, the promise, not to bid me farewell for the final time...didn't I..."
"We're not here to send you off. We're here to cheer for you. If our leader is going to be devastated in the next world because we're not around, we'll be really troubled!"
Jun smiled as he said. His hand that was covered by the reddish copper gauntlet grabbed Yuuki's right hand, and continued,
"Don't run around so much that I can't find you. I'll immediately find you."
"What...are you saying...that's too sudden...I'll get angry...you know..."
Making a 'chi chi' sound with her tongue, Nori cheerily said,
"That won't do. If we're not around, you can't do anything, leader. Just wait down there...wait for us..."
Nori's face suddenly twisted, and tears started to flow out from her large black eyes. Then, she made 2, 3 whimpers from deep inside her throat that couldn't be suppressed.
"That won't do...Nori...you promised not to cry, didn't you..."
Smiling and interrupting this, Shiune's face showed two lines of clear tears. Thatch and Taruken had no intention of hiding their tears as they held on to Yuuki's hand.
Yuuki again stared at the faces of the quintet, and then smiled and tearily said to them,
"Really, you guys...I'll be waiting there...for you people...take your time and come over...it's alright..."
The 6 members of the Sleeping Knights overlapped their hands together and looked like they would be swearing a reunion before nodding their heads hard. Once Shiune and company got up, another few flapping of wings could be heard approaching.
The ones who appeared were Kirito, Yui, Lisbeth, Lyfa and Silica. Everyone landed and immediately joined the ranks around Yuuki, and then grabbed Yuuki's hand hard.
Asuna was hugging Yuuki as she watched everything with teary eyes. Suddenly, she noticed something. Once Kirito and the rest stopped, there were still slight sounds of wings fluttering, and it wasn't just one. Wings of all sorts of tribes overlapped each other, forming a grand echo that's like an organ.
Asuna, Yuuki, Shiune, Lisbeth and company all looked at the sky.
They saw a large ribbon that came over from the direction of Panareze.
Several players were flying over in a straight line. The one in the front most position was the leader of the sylphs, Sakuya, whose coat fluttered with the wind. Beside her were sylphs wearing green shirts of different shades. Looking over at the numbers, it seemed that all the sylphs that were logged in came over.
No—it's not just the main street. Even in all directions from all around, many ribbons were coming over to the island. The red ribbons belong to the Salamanders, and the yellow should represent the Cait Siths. Also, there were Imps, Gnomes, Undines...and all sorts of player organisations leading all sorts of tribes over to the large tree. There's about 500...no, more than a 1000 people.
Yuuki looked wide-eyed in Asuna's arms and let out a cry of amazement.
"Uwahh...that's amazing...so many elves..."
Asuna smiled and said to her,
"Sorry, you hate to mobilize so many people, Yuuki...but I asked Lisbeth to call them over."
"Why would I...that's silly...but, why are there so many people...it's like...I'm dreaming..."
Yuuki muttered as she panted, and the swordsmen that arrived at the sky above the island let out a waterfall-like sound as they descended. Sakuya and Alicia and the other leaders of the organisations were gathered outside as they surrounded Asuna and company, and then knelt down on one leg and lowered their heads. This wasn't an island that was really big, and immediately after, it was filled with players.
Asuna stared at Yuuki's eyes and tried to express the emotions in her heart into words.
"Be...because..."
Her tears dropped again.
"Yuuki...you were once the strongest swordsman in this world...and there wouldn't be any swordsman that would appear in this world like you. I really couldn't let you go alone like that...everyone, everyone is praying for you...hoping that your new journey will be as perfect as this one..."
"...So happy...I'm really...happy..."
Yuuki lifted her neck and looked around at the swordsmen around her before leaning her head on Asuna's arm.
Yuuki closed her eyes, and her thin chest puffed and breathed a few times. She used those purple eyes to look at Asuna once more. She then breathed hard, seemingly squeezing her last ounce of strength, and continued in an interrupted voice,
"I've always...always been thinking, that I, who had to face death ever since I was born...what's the meaning of living in this world...I can't create anything in this world, and I can't help others...I can only waste countless drugs and machines...can only bring trouble to others...I'm bothered too, hurt...if I have to disappear in the end...just let me disappear...I thought of that a few times...I just felt...why did I have to be born in this world..."
The last remaining ounce of life was seeping away from Yuuki. The petite body in Asuna's arms seemed to be turning lighter bit by bit and transparent. Yuuki's voice became softer and softer, as if it was going to stop immediately. However, no language could mark itself deep inside Asuna's soul.
"But...but...I felt that I finally got the answer...even...if it's meaningless...if I can live...that's enough...because...at the final moment...I could actually feel...such meaning...so many people...are surrounding me...and I'm lying in...the arms of the one I loved the most...as I await the terminal of the journey..."
Yuuki's words stopped with a simple and short pant. Her eyes seemed to see through Asuna and out at a distant place. Was she looking at the real otherworld—the real elf island where the heroes' souls resided?
?
Asuna couldn't hold back the tears that were dropping. The dripping tears continued to land on Yuuki's chest, disintegrate into light particles and scatter. However, her mouth naturally smiled. Asuna nodded her head hard and said the final words to Yuuki,
"I...I'll definitely meet you again. Even if it's somewhere else, another world, I'll meet you again...at that moment, you must tell me...what you found there..."
Yuuki's purple eyes immediately met Asuna's stare. Deep inside her eyes, there was the shine of the endless energy and courage Asuna saw when she met Yuuki the first time. The shine immediately formed two drops of tears that flowed out, down Yuuki's pale face, and finally dissolved and faded into light.
She moved her lips slightly and made a smile. At this moment, a voice entered Asuna's consciousness directly.

I tried my best to live... Here, I really lived...

As if the last snowflake landed on the pure white snowy field, the «Absolute Sword» Yuuki closed her eyes.