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[Four months.

It's been four months since Kirito's heart stopped. Four months since that one horrible day he'd walked Asuna home. Four months since the doctors turned on the machines and came out to tell his aunt, Sugu, and Asuna that while he was alive and stable, he'd been gone too long. The ambulances had been just a few minutes too late, the doctors just a fraction too slow. There was no way for modern medicine to reverse the damage to his brain.

There was no way Kirigaya Kazuto, the boy who had cleared the Death Game and sent thousands of people home, would ever wake up.

It's been three months and thirty days since his body vanished.

But there in the mail, sitting on Asuna's doorstep when she gets home exactly four months later, there's a package. And inside that package is a device not unlike a NerveGear as well as a single cartridge with black English lettering on the side. UNDERWORLD. There's no manual, no case, no instructions or anything. Just a power cord for the helmet and a slot for the cartridge.

There is, however, a note. Unsigned and scrawled in careful penmanship.

He can't wake up on his own.

What'll it be, Asuna? Will you take the dive?]

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[ You're hilarious if you think she won't risk it all. She's eighteen now, she can make her decision without the consent of her parents and that ... more than anything, is what spurns her on. She knows what her mother would say, what she'd deny her. There was no choice for her, not really.

But there was for Asuna, and she was going to make it.

Four months later and she's read the letter about five times, left the NG unpacked and waiting and she knows if her mother found out, she'd be in no fathomable amount of trouble. ... But did it matter? She was gone for the month, and there was really no choice to it.

He can't wake up on his own.

Of course she'll drop into full dive. It didn't matter what the risk was, if there was a chance to help him, to bring him home and wake him up ... she would. Five minutes later and she's laying on the bed, eyes closed and breathing steady. ]

... Link start.

[The dive is similar, it goes through the same lights and systems checks as any other system. The difference is instead of a log in screen, instead of even a character select, there's just two words appearing in front of her, scrawled in white across a black background.

Welcome, Asuna.

And then, the materialization will start. Sounds come in muffled, like she's hearing it through water some few hundred feet away. Her vision is blurred and dark, colors slowly coming into focus, the lights sliding up bit by bit. There's motion around her, the feeling of people brushing by, and she'll be able to place the laughter of kids around her age and younger, she'll feel shoulders and hear the rustle of paper and fabric until she finally, finally finds herself in the middle of a hallway, wearing a modest white and black school uniform, matching all the kids around her.

There's the sound of running from behind her, a hasty shout, but before she can turn - still calibrating still calibrating - a shoulder hits hers just hard enough to cause both parties to stumble, to have the perpetrator careening off in his over-correction until he catches himself on a wall.

It doesn't take long for him to move back over, though, hovering worriedly, concern etched into every familiar feature on a very familiar face.] Ah- sorry. Didn't see you.

[ It's strange, though she's only been in so few games that she would never hold herself to judge to any sort of introduction. Except New Games usually came with some level of character customization, if not a name or account input. This was ... different. Had her file been carried over? That seemed possible- she still tended to use her own name as a character default.

It's more disorienting than anything else, feeling like she's swimming underwater, all sensation so utterly slow to kick in- and then it does and she can barely move an inch before the brunt of someone's shoulder slams into her, sending her stumbling just a step or two. And the one to assure of her well being is .... well.

Like she's seen a ghost. ]

K-Kirito?

[ Though it's said barely loud enough to be considered speech, if she'd even spoken at all. ]

N-No! It's alright. I suppose I shouldn't have been ... standing in the middle.

[ Which was odd, for a spawn point to put her in the immediate line of traffic of any kind. A subtle glance around her surroundings proved ... what? Were there status bars? User tags? The potential for a menu to be pulled up over HUD? Not that any of it were really running through her mind because here, after four months of thinking him gone... Here he was. Standing in front of her and suddenly she feels like crying. Eyes watering up- though they do not spill over.

Surely he hadn't hit her that hard, had he? ]

[There's nothing. No status bars, no character icons, no health gauges or little pop-ups in the corner of her vision. It's just her and him and the rest of the people (npcs? ais? who knew) walking up and down the hallway.

On Kirito's side of things, though- there's no recognition.

There's not a single change or flicker in his expression to even begin to hint that he recognizes Asuna. There's nothing but slightly widening eyes due to his mounting concern for this girl he just plowed into.]

Are you sure its- [He jostles forward a little as someone bumps into him from behind, rubbing his ever so slightly elbowed head as the culprit runs down the hall yelling back a quick "one for flirting, Kirito-saaaan" before they round the corner.]

Here. [He gently puts his hand on Asuna's arm, guiding her to the side of the path before raising his hand and taking a breath. His eyes slide closed and three strange, foreign words are spoken. At first, it's like nothing happened. But then, there's a faint green glow around his hand, Asuna's shoulder. And she'll find any lingering soreness fading away with a slight tingle.] Not the best but I'm... failing magic. [He scratches at a cheek awkwardly, glancing to the side out of embarrassment.] Hope it'll do-

[Just then, a loud, reverberating gnnnnng echoes across campus, and Kirito practically jumps out of his skin at the sound, the last remaining students scurrying off down the hall and into different rooms, leaving Kirito just staring mournfully down the empty hallway.

There goes his attendance record. SIGH.]

Edited 2014-12-12 01:43 (UTC)

[ It's painful, seeing ... nothing from him. No recognition, no strange awareness, not even his usual aloof bratty attitude. Here, he's a stranger. A fact she can deduce in less than a minute of being in the game. Funny, that.

But it's strange, being here. It feels like ... real life. There's no feedback to let her know the outskirts of her vision are still game world, no stats, no display, no ... nothing. It's just a school with a foreign boy that should, above all else, know her. Was this the state of his mind? Was he so far gone that he knew nothing?

She blinks as he murmurs words, lights his hand and soothes the dull ache in her shoulder. Well. Definitely not the real world, though. Failing magic. That sounded right, at least. He was a tank for a reason. --The bell startles her as well, eyes roving around the hall as the mass of children still about hurry off.

... With no introduction, there was little hope of her knowing what to possibly do next, either. It was clearly some sort of school simulation, but ... what type? With magic, no less? ]

Ah... It feels better now, thank you. [ And then she fidgets briefly, even despite his mournful look to the rest of the hall. ] Are you ... Going to class?

[SCHOOL KID DEPRESSION ACTIVATED!!!

Okay maybe not quite that dramatic, but he does definitely sigh and droop a little at the mention of class. Just for a second. Before he's taking in a breath, clapping his hands against his cheeks, and turning to look at Asuna with a small smile.]

Mm, though I'm late now. You're new, right? Do you know your schedule yet?

[ It hurts, it hurts, it hurts having him look at her and not know who she is, have no fathom of recognition and it leaves her with such a physical ache she wonders vaguely if the NerveGear will boot her off for a broken heart.

But it stays and she breaks a smile, trying to already lift the depressive swing she can practically feel waving off of him. He'd never seemed entirely adverse to schooling before ... But then, she also knew next to nothing about what was here, why he didn't know her, why ... anything. It was just a feeling, that trying to force him into remembering wasn't going to work. If anything, it would do more harm, than good. For now, at least, she'd play along. ]

Mhm. I don't, no. I think I'm ... a little lost, actually.

Right. Well- [He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small little cube and hitting a pressure plate at the front of it, causing the little piece of metal to spread and separate, for different places to light up and project upward with a list of classes, as well as a clock running in the upper right. It's not too dissimilar to an HUD, really.] Still time before the lock out. You have the guide, right? So let's see... [He'll help her fish out the guide from her pocket, will walk her through activating it, pulling up her schedule and seeing what classes she was assigned.

Oddly enough, it looks like they're in almost every single class together.] Matsuo might not be mad if I get us there before second signal. [With a flick of his wrist, he shuts down his guide and pockets it, reaching out and wrapping his hand around her wrist with a slightly apologetic smile on his face.] Just hold on, Asuna.

[It's like, in that one instant, the one utterance of a name he shouldn't know - or rather, should know - it's like a film is being ripped away. For a moment, Asuna will see her own status, she'll see her health bar, her magic bar. She'll see the little help icon at the top of her HUD, and she'll see a small, flashing yellow triangle at the bottom right corner. More than that, though, she'll see Kirito's display. She'll see his HP and MP and she'll see above that, where his name is usually written, there's just a line of ???????????.

He takes a step, and she'll see the glow around him, she'll see the slight MP usage- and then they're moving. His skill wraps around her, speeds her up, and he guides her through the halls, down the stairs and out into the common area, slipping through the doors of the gym a split second before a second chime echoes out and the door behind them glows red with a barrier.

By the time they get there, the displays are gone, and all Kirito does is give Asuna a small smile before moving towards the students sitting on the gym floor.

But as soon as Asuna recovers, as soon as she reaches out or moves forward, it's like the color drains away from the scene. All noise and motion stops, every student as well as the teacher up front frozen in place.]

I didn't think you would come. [A woman's voice, behind her. But Asuna will find she's unable to turn around and actually see who it is that's speaking.] Don't most relationships at your age end within four months?

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