Warning: present tense, second person speech.

/November 7th, 2024

And he isn't here. You wake up expecting your hand to still be holding tightly onto his, stepping beyond the end of the world together. Instead there's the clinical chill of a hospital room as nurses rush to you.

This isn't right. You can feel every thread in the sheets and each hair stands out on your arm and it hurts when you sit up as the doctor goes through their check list. This isn't the world you know.

Then a man is introducing himself, "Kikuoka Seijirou; investigator in the SAO Rescue Force," and asking about home. Where a sword at your hip is normal and a friend at your back is familiar.

You won't tell him for free. You've dealt with too many information brokers to give away information.

A satisfying trade later and you have Kirito's whereabouts and the status of the other SAO players. With Kirito still locked in a coma along with 300 others, there is work left to do.

You need to start calling in favours and bringing up old contacts you can trust: Argo, Lisbeth, Agil, Klein...

The Knights of the Blood's sub-commander doesn't leave a party member behind.