"Then you are my destination!! You will protect me forever!!!"
Shino felt that the vision before her eyes was suddenly distorted. For a moment I thought it was raindrops getting into my eyes, but soon I realized they were tears, not rain. The emotions accumulated in her heart overflowed and were released in words other than Shino's.
"You don't know anything, you don't know anything, don't say such selfish things! Yo, even if you don't think about it, can you do it!?"
Shino clenched her fists. His hands were covered in blood after shooting him in the head with a gun stolen from him. If you look at it with a microscope, you can see that the gunpowder that flew when the gun was fired entered and turned into a mole, a cursed hand. ——The murderous hand.
“Can you hold this, this, murderer’s hand!?
As soon as I finished speaking, countless curse words rang in my mind. "Don't touch the murderer", "Scary child", "Don't touch it, you'll get blood on it". Therefore, I was not allowed to touch anything, and the memory of the abuse played in my mind over and over again.
And when he tried to shout the words "Don't touch the murderer's disgusting child" loudly again, the curses echoing in his mind suddenly stopped. Complete silence envelopes your soul. I felt a strange feeling on my hand, and when I turned to look at it, Shino froze.
The hand that was about to reach for Kirito's chest—the murderer's hand stopped in front of Kirito's eyes.
"I was caught by Kirito's hand."
"picture"
After staring at Sinon's hand, Kirito reached out and grabbed Sinon's other hand.
Then, when he brought it to Shino, he placed Shino's hands on his chest and covered them with his own. My hands, which were wet and cold in the rain, suddenly became warm.
Shino couldn't speak. Kirito now held the cursed hand that no one had ever held. I don't care if my hands are stained with blood, I will warm the hands of that hateful child.
Kirito opened his mouth and saw a scene he had never seen before.
"Shino, have you forgotten? The story of waking up in the middle of the night and walking out of the house. It doesn't matter who that person is."
“Think about it, that’s what I was told.”
"Before, when Sinon woke up from a nightmare and left the cabin." Kirito caught up and said this.
"I will protect you, and you promised that I will let you return to the real world."
"I didn't think it was stupid at first, but as time went on and I realized Kirito was actually trying to do this, I started to believe his promise."
"You still do it but I'm a murderer"
Kirito shook his head and held Sinon's hand.
"You've believed in me until now. But I've done nothing to thank you. I've given you nothing in return."
When Kirito let go of Sinon's hand, he suddenly unbuttoned the black coat, held it in his hand, and placed it on Sinon's body. Shino's eyes suddenly opened wide and she was forced to put on her coat, but at the same time, the rain stopped soaking into Shino's body.
Kirito put his hand into Sinon's jacket and grabbed Sinon's shoulders with his bare hands.
"Shino, I will accept your request. I will be where you are and I will protect you for the rest of my life. Not just in SAO, but even after returning to the real world. I will always be by your side, and I will always protect you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a murderer or something like that.”
Sinon continued to listen to Kirito's words without saying a word. Not long after, Kirito lowered his head slightly.
"My life only belongs to you, Shino. I will use it for you and continue to protect you. Until that moment, we will be together. So"
Kirito pulled Shino's still empty body and hugged her tightly. Shino's body warmed her body that had become cold due to the rain.
"Don't say you no longer have a place to belong."
Shino in Kirito's heart finally came to his senses. Only Kirito's words were left in his mind, and no other sounds could be heard. Then Kirito grabbed my bloody hand and hugged me. No, think about it, before I came to SAO, my mother hugged me several times, but no matter how many times she hugged me, I felt as cold as ice.
Just like that time, Kirito hugged me, even though it was meant to be hugged. Even though Kirito's chest was wet from the rain, it was warm.
"Warm"
The moment she mumbled like this, Shino felt a surge of heat pouring out of her heart. Then it fell from my heart to my belly, then to my chest, to my throat, up to the level of my eyes, where it spilled out like a big tear.
"Why mom, it's as cold as ice for everyone, but why are you like this?"
Sinon buried her head in Kirito's chest and shouted.
“So warm!!!”
Just like that, Shino let out a loud cry. A warmth I had never experienced before surrounded me, and I shook like a baby and cried loudly. Along the way, Kirito whispered to Shino.
"I would probably say the same thing to the counselors, but Shino, thank you for telling me.
Kirito reached a hand from behind to his head and gently stroked his hair. Of course, counselors so far have told me, “This is hard, I understand, this is hard,” but… all the counselors have said the same thing, they haven’t said, “You did your best. "Kirito, who gave her warmth, said while stroking her hair, which made Shino's tears unstoppable.
Shino raised her voice as hard as she could and continued to cry while sucking on Kirito's chest. The cry was as loud as the sound of rain, but it was drowned by the rain and could not reach very far.
Shino cried for a while longer and stopped crying only after the rain stopped. Lilan did not leave the scene and kept paying attention to the surrounding situation, while Kirito kept holding Sinon motionless.
Then, Kirito called to Sinon while stroking her wet hair.
"Have you calmed down?"
Sinon nodded and said nothing, but immediately said to her: "Just stay like this for a while." Kirito said softly "Okay" and did not move, but Sinon continued.
"Hey, Kirito, why are you protecting me? I've been thinking about this question for a long time."
At this time, Sinon felt a change in Kirito's eyes. Somehow, his eyes seemed to remind him of something he didn't want to remember.
Immediately afterwards, Lilan's voice, which had been silent before, sounded in the minds of Kirito and Shino.
"I want to know this too. Kirito, should we start talking?
Kirito lowered his head slightly. I had every reason to want to protect Shino, but I reached this point without telling Lilan and Shino. But now, Shino told me about herself in detail, and I understood myself better. I couldn't help but want some stuff back, and I felt like if I just quit like that, I might never be able to speak.
"Actually, Shino and I are the same."
"Are you like me?"
"Yeah, me too, I've killed people too."
Sinon and Lilan's eyes widened at the words spoken by Kirito. As Kirito continued, he received unexpected attention from the two of them.
"I'm going to go into detail, but in the rain, I don't want anyone to hear it except you and Lilan."
Shino nodded without saying anything, and Liran also nodded.
"Okay. If you don't want anyone to hear you, please talk here when we're alone. We don't care if it rains
"Me too. Talk to me, Kirito."
Kirito nodded and turned to Leiluen.
"This was before I met Raylan."
◇◇◇
"I once joined a guild." Its name was "Moonnight Black Cat". A small guild run by five people, seemingly made up of clubbers who are well connected in the real world. I have been helped by that guild, and in order to repay that kindness, I decided to join this guild.
But at that time, my level was already over 60, and everyone else's level was around 30. I didn't want people to think I was over 60, so I lied about my level and told everyone. As a result, everyone misunderstood that my level was the same as theirs, and they began to admire me.
"Black Cat on a Moonlit Night" is a soft and warm place, almost like a club event. Everyone got along very well and was very nice to me, a complete outsider. Perhaps because of this, I feel so comfortable with black cats on moonlit nights that I would take them to a capture group if I could. I thought that if I did this, I could change the tension in the capture group and further improve the survival rate. I hang out with them and help them level up.
"But one of them is afraid of fighting." My name is Sachi. She is a slightly timid girl with dark blue hair.
As the guy told me the night before he went out to explore the dungeon, it was also a total upgrade. "I'm afraid of fighting, I'm afraid of death, let's escape somewhere together."
"I wonder if he thought luck was fleeting at the time." But suddenly I started to want to protect Sachi. Then I decided to protect Sachi no matter what and told her about it.
"Then Sachi stopped crying and smiled." He told me "I wouldn't be afraid if I was with Kirito," and he was no longer afraid of fighting. Tell me you are safe because I will protect you. I once again thought about protecting Sachi no matter what, and decided to face the exploration of the dungeon.
The next day, Keita, the leader of the Moonlit Black Cats, said that he had saved enough money and bought a house as a hiding place for the Moonlit Black Cats. We all agreed, and after sending Keita to the residential area,
I crawled into the dungeon to find a box.
"Then, everyone died in the dungeon except me." When I opened the treasure chest, I fell into a trap in a room that had become a crystal invalid zone, and was beaten by countless monsters that came out of it.
Originally, the dungeon was the high-end place for the black cat on a moonlit night. But they forced me in, saying I was the expert and they could do it anyway. And I myself became arrogant because of my level, thinking that I could handle anything. So I think it should be okay to challenge a slightly higher dungeon.
They ended up dead, and Sachiya was hacked to death by a monster. I wanted to stay alive, so I killed the monsters there and escaped the dungeon.
"Xing, who I wanted to protect, died in front of me." No, if I hadn't faked my level in the first place, they might have simply bypassed me and not joined me. Because I forged my rank, people died needlessly, and I lost the very thing I wanted to protect.
"But I saw what Sachi said when she was about to die." I at least wanted to hear these words, and also wanted to see Sachi again who I couldn't protect, so I tried my best to level up and look for something that could be used in the Christmas activities. Obtained resurrection items.
However, resurrection items are only effective for 10 seconds after the player dies. Fortunately, six months have passed since their deaths. As a result, I couldn't bring Sachi back to life.
"But that's when I met Lilan"
"I won't speak for now." Shino and Liran in front of them both opened their eyes wide and looked surprised. Yes, I'm sure you would be surprised if the person in front of you told you they had destroyed a guild.
She might never talk to me again - thinking this, Shino spoke.
"That's why you try so hard to protect me and the others. I don't want to do what happened to Black Cat on a moonlit night?"
"Yes, I want to heal the guilt of letting them die. At least I don't want to repeat that scene again, so I fight to protect everyone. Frankly speaking, I feel proud
Shino made a soft sound, then fell into silence. However, he immediately opened his mouth and spoke again.
"So, what happened to the remaining leader Keita? After losing his companions?"
"I was shocked." Sachi's death and the deaths of the others were painful enough, but for Keita, it was unnecessary. Most of all, I don't want to remember.
However, Shino told me that she killed someone with her own hands and continued until the end. I also have to talk to the end. I can't just stay silent.
"Keita I met him near the outskirts of Aincrad. Fortunately they died and I was left alone. You look like you have lost everything. So what do you think you are doing?"
"what have you been doing?"
"Keita got angry and attacked me. He was talking about this beating bastard and a murderer. So, I guess he was going to throw my body outside. If you say things like that, everyone forgets about themselves and gets angry."
"But you're still alive"
"I nodded and told him everything."
"As we struggled, Keita grabbed me by the neck and Keita, who was attacking me with huge eyes and power as I was about to be thrown outside, got scared and I accidentally used my power. I think he was I wanted to break away from Keita, and then Keita held my body and climbed over the fence and let go of my body.”
I told Shino before what would happen if she left Aincrad. It turns out not long into the game that if you throw yourself outside of Aincrad, you'll fall straight into the void and die. If you jump from the outside of Aincrad, the cause of death will be a fall from a height. This is written on the Monument of Life in the City of Origin, with a horizontal line drawn next to the name.
Shino's eyes widened when she realized what happened to Keita.
"So who is Keita!"
"Oh I did kill him."
"Although you wanted to throw me down, you didn't expect that you would fall." I still remember Keita's confused face when he fell. Keita probably didn't realize until the end that he was the one who fell outside Aincrad and turned into countless pieces.
What's even scarier is that although Keita fell because of me, my icon is still green. Apparently, even a fall death intentionally caused by a player will be considered an accident. Ever since I met Lilan and Shino, I wanted to seal it deep in my heart, but from the moment I spoke, from the moment the black cat on the moonlit night was destroyed in my mind, from the moment Keita was From the moment he threw it away, he was killed. My heart is filled with flashbacks of time.
"Since then, I have dreamed many times about the moment when everyone in the Moonlight Black Cat died like you, and the moment when Keita was thrown down. But it doesn't matter, I killed five people, this is right That kind of thing.” Punishment for me. Here, Shino is the same. "
Shino whispered with trembling lips.
"Then how did you forget that memory? You were not like this when you were with me."
"I look at the coat Shino is wearing. "But what I see now is not Shino or Court.
"Sachi left me a message saying that if they died, it was not my fault. Thanks to that, I was able to get back on my feet and never do it again. I have been able to go to the battlefield with them." No The determination of the method.
Just as I was about to continue speaking, Lilan's "voice" sounded in my mind.
"It was an accident"
"picture?"
Shino and I turned our attention to the source of the sound. Soaked to the skin, the fluffy fur often clings to the carapace and skin.
"The purpose of Keita's attack was to push you down. He must have been driven by rage. But that is no excuse for trying to overwhelm you. As a result you resisted and fell. It can reasonably be considered an accidental death. If I could think calmly, maybe I wouldn't die.
"that's right..."
"I don't think you did this out of malice. If you have even the slightest regret for Keita, you should choose not to stop here, step up and finish this castle. You should also consider living for them .Keita’s death, Sachi’s death, do you think Sachi, who made you stand up again, would want you to live like the ghost of the black cat on a moonlit night?”
"I do not think so"
Lilan smiled softly.
"Then, Kirito faces forward. The black cat on the moonlit night is "memory". If you only think about the past, you cannot live in the future. If you trace the source of their death, there are also factors in the world itself. As long as this castle does not When it ends, there will continue to be casualties like Sachi. You don’t want victims like Sachi and them, do you? Then you shouldn’t be trapped in the past and live in the present. What is in front of you now? What do you think?
"I shifted my gaze from the "reenactment" to the one in front of me." That was Shino's wet face. She was the only girl who came to me out of the blue, believed my words, and opened up to me. And now, this is what I want to protect most in this world.
"You should just give the answer and tell it to Shino. Just think about it and try to do it. I will try my best to help you.
"What should I say more?" What do you think you should do now -->
Before that, he whispered.
"Stay with Shino and protect her. It's the same whether in this world or back to reality."
"And escape from this castle, trying to survive as long as possible to protect everyone who tries to return to the real world."
"Lilan smiled softly."
"do not you know?"
I nodded and closed my eyes gently. Deep in my heart, I see everyone in Moonlight Black Cat.
"I can never forgive what I did and I can never make amends to them again." So, at least, I swear, I will live to prevent victims like them from ever happening again, and that I will not make the same mistakes they made . I will never repeat myself again.
Thinking of this, I feel them smiling.
"Kirito"
I opened my eyes, and the black cat on the moonlit night disappeared with a meow.
Shino's figure appeared in his eyes again.
"Kirito has also experienced a lot of things, and you have also experienced a lot of difficulties, right? In the end
"You made an important promise to me, but I also want you to promise me something." Stop trying to control everything on your own. When you're by my side, just like I'm by your side If you're hurt, tell me. I will face you with you. "
"My hands suddenly became warm." I was covering Sinon's hand just now, but now it was covered by Sinon.
"Just like you told me I don't belong here, you don't belong here either. You're no longer a loner.
"In this world, in the real world forever." If you are by my side, I will be by your side. So, stop holding on to things. "
Although Shino's hands were soaked, they still felt warm. And that warmth spread throughout my body through my hands, and even reached my heart.
"I promised Shino that I would be by her side." But this also means that Shino will also be by my side at the same time. It seemed like he didn't even notice such a simple thing.
"I have tried to use this life to protect Xing. It is yours, I use it for you, and you continue to protect me. When you are about to collapse, I will support you and accompany you until the last moment, whether in this world or In the real world.”
"I looked into Shino's eyes."
"But at the same time will you stay with me? Will you stay with me?"
Shino smiled like never before.
"Yes"
