September 20th, 2024

A few monsters were being struck down by a boy dressed in a black coat, wielding a black sword which defeated them with ease. At the same time, his guildmates watched over from behind him, curious as to when they would get a chance to fight.

Currently, four members of the Moonlit Black Cats were walking towards the exit of the labyrinth of the 60th floor. The day started with a routine excursion into the dungeons.

Well mostly routine. Today's group was composed of Kirito, Ducker, Tetsuo and Sasamaru.

Earlier in the day, Keita told everyone that he was going down to the lower floors in order to spread info to the players there. For the last few months, the Moonlit Black Cats had been finding areas on the higher floors where it would be safer for lower-level players to train and gain EXP.

Evidently, he didn't want to go alone so he had asked everyone if they would volunteer to accompany him.

Nobody offered. Everyone, except for Keita, found the meetings to be incredibly boring, so they would often try to find ways to get out of them whenever they could afford to.

Eventually, he settled on asking Sachi to come with him.

"We haven't spent enough time together recently," he had claimed.

And that was enough for her to agree. Sometimes I think you're too nice, Sachi.

Unfortunately for Kirito, his friends were not above teasing him about the situation.

A «friend date» is what those idiots called it. According to them, the two of them used to do that a lot back home, often leaving them behind unexpectedly.

It was a joke of course. A very insensitive one, but a joke nonetheless.

After all, having spent what felt like a lifetime with the girl, he knew that if nothing else, Sachi was faithful. And having known his leader, he knew that he wouldn't dare impose on the relationships of his friends...

Still, seeing the two of them together as they left, he was reminded of a certain insecurity that he first felt a long time ago.

In fact the feeling was so bad that he felt the negativity chilling his body.

Calm down, he told himself as they entered the safe zone nearby. I shouldn't be upset that she's hanging out with a male friend. They insist that they're like siblings... just like me and Sugu and there's no way we'd ever start liking each other like that, right?!

"Hey," a male voice broke through his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Tetsuo looking to him with concern. "You okay, Kirito? You aren't making a very happy face," he pointed out.

"I'm fine," he lied. However his voice was difficult to get out. What the hell? he thought as he realized how badly his body was feeling. He felt a piercing cold penetrating deep into his muscles and bones. Admittedly, he had used more effort than normal to fight off the monsters, but that shouldn't make him feel like this!

Looking down at himself, he quickly turned back to his friend and shook his head with a startled expression.

He collapsed to his knees, unable to stand on his shaking legs.

"Hey! Kirito!" he heard someone who he thought was Sasamaru speak.

"Can't handle it!" he barely choked out as his vision began to blur. "Get help! Get Sa-!"

Before he could bring himself to finish his sentence, he lost consciousness.

***

"Kirito! Kirito!" Sasamaru kept shaking their guildmate.

Completely unresponsive, the boy kept his eyes shut as his body flailed around.

Putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, Tetsuo stopped the well-intentioned but violent action. "Calm down, he's out cold."

"If he's out cold, how can I be calm?!" Sasamaru countered.

Ignoring the argument, Ducker leaned down as he pulled out a status healing crystal. Gingerly, pressing it against his guildmate, he called the command to activate it, "«Heal»."

"There," he said as he stood up. "Now whatever status condition he has should go away in," he put up his hand and lowered his fingers one at a time. "3, 2, 1!"

But he didn't stir...

Now even more worried, Ducker leaned down to his friend again and lightly slapped his face.

"His HP bar doesn't have a status effect," Tetsuo informed them. Due to the fact that they were in a party together, they could see each other's HP bars. Sure enough, just as he said, Kirito and all of them were in fact clear of any status icons.

"Then what could cause this?!" Sasamaru asked frantically, holding Kirito protectively.

"We can worry about that later," Ducker called out. Knowing how his friends were, he knew they would spend too much time debating before they finally took action, "Right now, let's get him back home to safety before we worry about what's hurting him."

The other two looked at him with surprise. Clearly they don't expect me to be the rational one.

"You heard him, 'Get help! Get Sa-!'," he repeated his friend's words. "Let's get him to his girlfriend," he said a bit teasingly. "Obviously she'll know what to do." He wasn't sure what Sachi could do about this, but at the very least, they should bring him somewhere safe.

They smiled at him, amused at his teasing.

"Okay," Tetsuo agreed. Opening his map, he checked their position in relation to the exit. "It shouldn't be too hard to get out, even if we have to carry him out."

"Too bad we can't just teleport out," Sasamaru mused.

What he was saying was true. A player couldn't teleport others with them using items, they had to use the crystals themselves to make it work.

"Yeah..." Ducker agreed. "Then there's only one thing to do."

Pushing Sasamaru aside, he gently turned his back on them before pulling on one of Kirito's wrists. Easily, he draped him over his back, his head coming to a rest on his shoulder.

"This is not what I was expecting when I first bought this game," Ducker snarked.

"You would've loved this if he was a girl, wouldn't you?" Sasamaru teased as he passed him.

He sneered at him as he got up, barely hindered by the black-haired boy's weight.

Protectively, he put his left hand on Kirito's wrists and held them tightly, preventing him from slipping. His right hand pulled out his dagger, ready to defend them.

You do so much for us, Kirito, Ducker wordlessly assured his friend. So let us help you out this time.

"Hold up," Tetsuo stopped them. "It'll be difficult to carry an unconscious person through the dungeon – for both us and him. It may be better to wait here until he wakes up."

They looked at him thoughtfully, considering the truth in his words.

"I don't think that's a great idea," Ducker put in. "We don't know what's causing this. If it's some unknown status condition, for all we know it could spread to us and we'll be trapped here!"

The other two looked at him, alarm on their faces. After some time, they nodded at him resolutely.

"Okay," Tetsuo called. "After all the enemies we've killed so far, we should have a clear way out to the entrance."

They all nodded, ready to get going.

"Let's do this!"

It didn't take them very long to dispute Tetsuo's theory – They did not have a clear way out of the dungeon.

As they approached the hallway that would lead out of the dungeon, a large group of skeleton knights appeared. Threateningly, about 3 barred their way out from the front, waving their various weapons through the air. 2 more seemingly appeared out of nowhere on each of their sides.

Tetsuo and Sasamaru looked at their enemies, their eyes seeming a little annoyed rather than concerned.

"I don't suppose you'll let us pass?" Tetsuo asked the monsters politely, as if they could understand him. "We've got a sick person who needs to get home immediately."

The skeletons did not respond, merely staying in place and waving their weapons.

"Didn't think so," Sasamaru joked.

In the same moment, he ran forward and attacked the closest skeleton, embedding his spear directly into its empty eye socket.

And with that, the melee commenced as the horde descended on the Black Cats.

***

The gentle sound of humming filled the room. A cool feeling was touching the boy's forehead.

He tried to stir, but he was covered in a thick comforter. Well, wrapped in a thick comforter was a more accurate description of his situation.

The bone chilling cold that plagues his body earlier was replaced with extreme heat instead.

Within the heat the only cool feeling was on his forehead.

"...You're finally awake." A gentle voice entered his ears. "I'm so glad..."

"..." He couldn't help but smile as he turned his eyes to the speaker. She was a girl with an angelic face and beautiful blue eyes with a small beauty mark under the right one framed with hair the colour of the midnight sky which was decorated with a small snowflake decoration – a gift from him.

"...I'm back, Sachi," he greeted gently. At the same time, he tried to get up. However, Sachi gently placed her hand on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Sorry," she apologized gently. "You'll have to stay in bed if you want to get better."

He stopped resisting and obediently stayed in the bed, which he finally realized was the one they shared in the guildhouse.

"What happened?" he weakly asked her. He wanted to say more, however in his weakened state, it was difficult to speak.

The girl smiled at him. Before answering she removed the now warm cloth from his forehead, dipped it into a nearby bucket for a few seconds before pulling out a now rigid cloth and put it back on his forehead.

"Well," she started as she smiled with amusement, "while we were waiting for you guys to get back, Tetsuo, Sasamaru and Ducker ran into the guildhouse carrying your unconscious body, desperately calling for help."

Must have been after I passed out.

"They were talking about going to a hospital or a church or anything. They also told us that all their crystals and antidotes didn't work."

What kind of status effect could cause this? He wanted to ask. In fact, any status effect should have been healed as soon as he entered the town.

"Luckily, Keita and I already had an idea of what was going on."

He couldn't help but grumble when he heard his leader's name from her.

"So after we explained to them what was probably happening, the others immediately went off to gather some ice and snow from the 55th floor." She stopped and smiled at him. "'Ice would last longer than water' is what Keita said," she did her best impression of their leader. She giggled as her eyes misted over fondly. "They were really worried about you, you know."

I know, he wanted to answer. I wish I could tell them how much I appreciate them.

Thinking back to what she said, he realized that if crystals or antidotes didn't work, then it must not be some kind of strange, unknown status effect affecting him!

"What's causing this?" Ordinarily he would've been nervous, but seeing how calm his timid partner was, he was certain that whatever was happening to him wasn't extreme.

Sachi smiled at him gently before answering. "This is no negative status effect," she informed him. "In fact, it has nothing to do with the game itself. It's a sickness. You caught a cold."

"...A... cold...?" he repeated.

"Well it's more theoretical since we can't see our real bodies," she went on a little faster, as if anxious, "but the theory is that your body in the real world caught a cold. Right now, the seasons should be changing over there. In fact, Asuna told me that around this time last year, many people collapsed from this."

"A-ahh!" His foggy mind vaguely remembered a time last fall, when it was just the two of them. At that time a few players weren't showing up to meetings.

So that's why... Recalling those times, he couldn't help but think of something somewhat irrelevant to his situation. I kind of miss those days...

The truth is, as much as he liked and cared for his friends in the Moonlit Black Cats, a part of him still longed for the days where he and Sachi were always together and they didn't have to share their time with anyone else...

"How pathetic," he unintentionally said aloud.

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, she fixed him with a stern look. "You aren't pathetic," Sachi said a bit harshly. "It's normal for people to get sick, it isn't an indicator of how strong you are... or how brave..."

He turned away. Luckily she didn't realize what he meant.

"Anyways," she said, "I just did what my mother would do when I would get sick like this..." she smiled bashfully, "which included restraining my arms so that I couldn't play any games instead of sleeping."

He couldn't help but grin. He had almost forgotten that she was nearly as much of a gamer as he was.

"...Did you ever get caught?" he couldn't help but ask.

She smiled at him guiltily. "A few times."

They stayed like that for a while. He lay in bed as she gently rubbed his forehead with the frozen cloth.

Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind. "Where are the others?"

"They're in the other room," she informed him. "'He'll get better if you're the one taking care of him' is what Keita said. Isn't he silly?" She giggled a bit bashfully. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh right... I was supposed to tell them when you woke up."

With an apologetic smile, she balanced the frozen cloth on his forehead and started to get up.

"I'll be right back," she gently informed him.

"Wait!" the word left his mouth before he could think. He wanted to reach out and grab her sleeve, but his arms were still stuck in the comforter. She looked at him with wide eyes, a bit startled at his outburst. "Stay, please," he said weakly.

It was a selfish, childish request... but right now, more than the feeling of relief that the frozen cloth was giving, he just wanted her presence next to him.

Smiling, she sat back down and put her hand back on the frozen cloth. "All right," she obliged his request. "I'll tell them later."

And so they continued like that. At some point, Sachi began to softly hum a certain Christmas carol which had began to become his favourite song during his time in SAO. At least it was whenever he heard it from her.

Despite his sickness, at that moment, he was content to stay in bed as long as she was with him... But he had to ask something before he could relax fully. "How long will the cold last?" He waited until the end of her song.

She looked at him with a smile.

"Don't worry," she assured him gently. "Aincrad can afford to be without the Black Swordsman for a while."

He smiled at her gently. He wasn't completely convinced about that, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

Then she did something unexpected. After another minute of using the cloth, she slowly removed it. He opened his eyes to look at what she was doing. Smiling bashfully, she put her open palm on his forehead and slightly curled her fingers across his temple.

Her hands, he realized, were chilled with the cold of the cloth... and yet, they still felt warm... belonging to the girl with the warmest heart.

I love you, he wanted to say. But he felt too exhausted to say it.

"Um..." she mumbled unexpectedly. Her eyes shifted for a second as she played with her hair and smiled shyly. "Actually... if you're really worried... I may know a way to get you back on your feet sooner..."

He gave her an odd look as he stared at her now red face, however a second later, his eyes widened as she leaned down to him.

She kept shifting her eyes but she kept them open. Eventually, she stopped moving towards him and they locked eyes.

Within his sickness addled and still tired mind he considered what to do.

I should refuse. He shifted his eyes for a second. I shouldn't pass my sickness on to her, that wouldn't be fair!

But his eyes went back to her face, noting the shy expression her eyes betrayed in spite of her forwardness.

It wasn't like her to be so bold... He liked it!

"Okay," he breathed his consent as he closed his eyes. Soothed, the last thing he recalled before he went to sleep was the gentle feeling of two cold hands cupping his cheeks and a soft, warm feeling pressing on his face.

***

"...ooh..." Sachi groaned as she opened her eyes.

...That was a mistake...

By the time Sachi woke up, Kirito was already on his feet. Apparently, he also took the time to put her in bed in his place. Perhaps due to his excellent physical condition, as well as the overnight care by Sachi, he had fully recovered.

He immediately thanked her, claiming that when he got up, he immediately felt better.

She wanted to celebrate with him, however, when she tried to get up, she was plagued with an awful feeling in her body.

"Sorry," Keita apologized from the bedside, "I didn't think it was possible to catch his cold in a virtual world."

Currently, he was the one taking care of her.

The moment Kirito realized she was sick, he immediately tried to 'make things right' as he put it.

With impossibly fast movements, he tried to lean down to her face with the intention to take back the sickness. Probably. But fortunately, despite being slowed by the sickness, her reflexes were fast enough for her hand to stop his face.

Shaking her head, she silently told him to leave it.

"The world needs the Black Swordsman more than the Midnight Shadow, is that right?" he had asked her.

She didn't answer at the time, feeling too weak to do so.

"Well Sachi, I'm sorry to say that you're wrong."

That was the last time she saw him that day.

Now it was just her and Keita who was feebly wiping her forehead with a wet cloth – just as she did yesterday to Kirito until the others came back with the snow.

"Thank you," she was able to croak out.

Her childhood friend looked down to her with a smile. "Anytime, Sa-chan."

She grinned as she heard her childhood nickname from him.

"Still, it's hard to believe that you caught a cold to," he went on, getting distracted from the wiping. "Considering that your bodies should be far away from each other no matter how close you are here..."

Suddenly, he gave her a suspicious look. "You didn't do the kiss thing, did you?" he asked accusingly.

Her eyes widened before she looked away as her face started to heat up more.

"Greaaat," Keita groaned as he refreshed the cloth. "We're gonna have to have a talk about that later."

It was another ten minutes before the door to the room suddenly banged open.

"I got the snow," Kirito called as he walked towards the bed. In his hands was a large basin that was filled to the brim with shimmering, white snow.

With a smile he placed it on the ground and retrieved the cloth that was on her forehead.

"I'll leave you two to it." At the same time, Keita got out of his seat and walked towards the door but stopped before exiting. "Oh, and Kirito, Sachi," he said a bit sternly. "Don't play hot potato with that, alright?"

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked him obliviously.

Keita gave him a peculiar look before leaving without answering his question. "We'll be outside, just yell if you need anything."

Looking at the door, they could see the rest of their guildmates outside, smiling reassuringly.

Once he closed the door and they were sure he was gone, Kirito immediately got to work and placed the cloth into the snow.

"Sorry I took so long," he apologized quickly. "I intended to come back earlier... But there was this huge horde of monsters."

"...It's only been an hour," Sachi pointed out.

Kirito smiled as he placed the now frozen cloth on her forehead.

"Ah... Comfortable..." she let out a sigh of relief at the cooling sensation. "...Thank you..."

"Well we may have been slower, but Tetsuo figured out that the best way to go forward was for him and Sasamaru to hold off most of the monsters while me and Ducker ran off ahead to get to the collectible snow mounds." It felt good to be able to talk about his adventure with someone rather than holding it all in like he did when he was a solo player. "And then we ran into the field boss, so Ducker held it back while I got the snow and we defeated it together."

"Tell me more..." she requested. Smiling, she stretched out her hand from under the blanket to hold his free hand.

It was cold after being out in the snowy area for so long, but her fever heat warmed it to its natural temperature.

"Am I going to have to restrain your hands like you did to me?" he teased her.

She shook her head as she smiled. Still her hand stayed wrapped around his.

"Well if you aren't going to let me take your cold, then let me take care of you for today."

"...You already do so much..." she whispered.

"Not enough. At least not for you. So let me take care of you right now."

Maintaining a smiling face she let her head rest on the pillow.

"...Thank you... Kirito... I love you..."

He smiled and blushed as he leaned down and whispered the same words into her ear. "I love you too."

The cold, relieving feeling of the frozen cloth touched her forehead again as her partner told her stories about some of his adventures as he repeated the same gestures she did for him the previous day.

The idea of passing a cold through a kiss is apparently a belief in Japan. I learned about it when reading OreShura... One day I hope the translation will be finished. As the translator said there, do NOT try that at home, you'll just end up with two sick people.

I was actually considering whether I should compile chapters based on the material editions and other side stories (the ones that weren't used in the anime at least) and put them into a different story. That idea is not completely off the table since I do see the benefit of reading such stories after the main story.

Offhand, I really like the pictures that were in the original chapter. Kirito and Asuna's early designs are really nice, not as bright as the current anime designs, but there's something about that which I like. Although it's a little weird seeing Asuna without her iconic braid.

I'm not sure why there was a review mentioning ALO that wasn't referring to this story's canon (is it because I mentioned «What If?» in the Laughing Coffin chapter?), but I'll say something anyways. A few fanfics have touched on the topic of "What if Kirito was captured instead of Asuna?" so maybe try some of those, although I haven't read any of them myself. I assume that it'd mostly be the same as it was in canon, just with the character positions reversed, maybe Asuna would gather Yui (could she have revived Yui if she was saved to Kirito's NerveGear? I think "yes" due to the shared storage but I'm not sure), Liz and Klein (I don't think she has canonically met Silica by the end of SAO) and meet Leafa anyways and somehow she'd find out that Asuna is trying to save her brother, but then again, she wouldn't have that chance meeting for the same reason as canon. Although the first thing to consider is, "Why would Sugou trap Kirito and not Asuna as well?" I guess it would keep him out of the way so that they could get married IRL... *barf*. I suppose after rescuing him, Asuna can take Kirito's role entirely and go into GGO and Alicization while Kirito would take Asuna's role... I'd read that. However, it may be better, and I MAY write this myself, to consider that if instead of Sugou, what if RATH took Kirito instead right after SAO? Maybe add on, what if Asuna was captured by Sugou at the same time? Who would save them? A team of Silica, Liz and Klein? I'll get there when I get there, but it's a good thing I have a third MC and her team ;). Maybe if readers want it enough and if I can motivate myself (a 4th story isn't something I need right now...), I'll write something along those lines.

I do have something planned for the Fairy Dance arc of this that I promise will have major differences from the canon arc, in fact I have a few parts written (writing ahead helps me think of the present, plus I can make cross-references with my other stories). Although that's assuming I DO a Fairy Dance arc. My personal questions regarding that arc are, "What if Sugou succeeded in his plans with the trapped players?" and "Could the rescue have been done without Yui?"

Wow that was a lot for such a random review... I wonder if I can make a page where I can answer the readers' questions.