Sotarou

He slowly and blearily blinked his eyes open as he found himself lying on the ground of the forest... the fog permeating it was now gone. As he pushed himself up into a sitting position, he looked around. There was no sign of the fight he'd had with his grandfather... no signs of either his grandfather or father... did... did he just imagine everything...? Suddenly, a popup hit on the side of his HUD. <EXTRA SKILL GAINED: KATANA. NEW SWORD ART OBTAINED: CHICHI SHAZAI. WARNING: SKILL INSUFFICIENT TO USE SWORD ART. RANK 5 REQUIRED> So... he had gotten the skill needed to use

A long silence stretched between the three... Sotarou thought he'd forgotten a piece of the memory and it was halting until he did something... but then his grandfather spoke, assuaging his memories. "I always had a bad feeling about that woman..." Hanoi just chuckled. "Right, dad..." He stood up and sighed. He approached Kuzu, offering a hand. "I'm sorry..." Kuzu looked at the hand... then at his son... and just pulled him into a hug. "No, kiddo... I'm sorry... even if it was a bad relationship, you loved her... I should have trusted you..." Sotarou smiled, watching the interac

"Not quite nothing." Kuzu and Sotarou looked back as a third voice appeared... this time, it was Hanoi: Sotarou's father! "Dad!" "Hanoi..." Hanoi sighed, moving to Kuzu. "Father... I knew what you were up to the entire time..." Kuzu looked flabbergasted! "But... then... why didn't you say anything!?" "At the time... purely just out of anger... but later on, I realized you helped out a lot... even if you didn't mean to." Sotarou looked confused at his father. "What do you mean?" Hanoi sighed, sitting on the floor. "... I'm sorry I kept this from you, Kisuke...

As he struck, the image burst into wisps, scattering and remerging behind Sotarou. As he turned to ready his fight again, he realized: the memory had changed. It was a later memory... one from near the end of Kuzu's life... he stood in his dojo, looking at Sotarou with sorrowful eyes... "Back then... you were right... I ended like this myself..." Sotarou approached his grandfather, worry on his own face. "No... I shouldn't have-" "You had every right... every right to call me out back then... I was a fool... and a coward." "... why? Just... why?" "Why?" He gave a wry l

"You don't get to say that about her! You were the one who drove her away in the first place!" The anger was in full force... but he forced himself to focus and get back into stance. "I merely pointed out that she didn't belong. That she would cause nothing but disaster for this family! She was the one who decided to listen!" "And that makes it okay!? No wonder she left! No wonder father hates you! You're bitter, you're vindictive, you're a blight on this family! You deserve to die alone!" He rushed forward, the Bokken in his hands glowing as he performed a maneuver! Not just a norma

The continuing back and forth between Sotarou and Kuzu lasted quite a while. The normal sounds of what shoulda been wood on wood replaced by the clanging of steel on steel. Scraping of blades, ringing of ripostes, feet pattering against a padded floor. Each side had minor cuts by this point, but a decisive blow had not been seen by either side. Neither willing to give in. By this point however, it seemed the memory was on repeat... the fight had gotten predictable, where before his grandfather was always changing his style. He had to be hallucinating, obviously, but why was it not changing? Wa

A long pause began between the two... as the space around them seemed to shift... he was no longer in the forests of floor 22. He was in his family's dojo. But Sotarou wasn't focused on that. He was instead focused on the image of his grandfather in front of him. Memories of their training, the times he's been knocked down. Struck. Every loss a failure... but he had no plans on losing here. This was his world... Aincrad. No way he'd lose! "It won't be like all the previous times! I won't lose!" "Cocky attitude. Put your money where your mouth is, boy!" Kuzu stepped forward, taking a singl

That voice... no... no way in hell! He immediately stood up and turned, seeing a shadow in the mists approach... as it did, the features became more prominent. Older, gaunt face, shaved head, missing eyebrows, and he was soot-stained from head to toe. Kuzu Azumai: Kisuke's grandfather! Sotarou's eyes went wide! "Grandfather!? Wh- how are-" His grandfather wasted no time, taking a bokken and sweeping, causing Sotarou to fall to his side! "A weak stance! Has my son taught you nothing!?" Wait... he remembered this... his first instructions with his grandfather... the exact same mov

The info broker's words were cryptic... [To bring your skills in, you must bring your thoughts out. The forests on 22 can help. Go... and remember.] Cryptic... anyway, he made it here. Luckily. He was able to avoid most of the enemies and keep them from spotting him while he made his way up the floors. He made it to 22 and managed to find the forests... though he had gotten himself lost in the fog. "Great job, Kisuke... getting lost on a floor where everything could one-shot you... why did I let that broker convince me to do this...?" He sighed and continued to explore the mists...

Upon the hand being placed on his head, he grimaced a bit... a familiar gesture... but that was back in the real world... he took a steadying breath as she did that... "Well, be that as it may... let's keep looking around. One more check around. I've kinda held you up for enough time." Sotarou took another few more minutes checking this spawn area for potential targets... but nothing showed up at all. It was a rather draining experience... but such as it was, he decided then it would be a good time to just head back. "Yeah, not gonna find anything today. Let's just head back to Aruyt and

"Sota-kun." Sotarou tensed a small bit at that again... luckily, he'd already made his cut, so he wouldn't get distracted by that... he just cleared his throat as he swung the blade to clear it before sheathing it back in its scabbard. He then got the notice... <RECEIVED: 75 Col, 1 Material, <<T1 Uncommon Consumable 220459b>> FROM KYLISSIA> He smiled and accepted the items before turning to Kylissia herself after steadying himself again from being knocked mentally by her words... "The strongest of Samurai in history have been able to cleave solid metals by honi

Sotarou just stood up, dusting himself off of the dirt covering his outfit. He took a calming breath, recovering from the wind being knocked out of him. He looked at the loot gained curiously and smiled a bit. "Well, seems easy enough to divide the spoils there. Even split seem okay to you? We each get one of the consumables, the Col can be split 50/50, and then since I get my own materials anyway, you can take those if you want them. Otherwise, one for each of us. Does that sound okay?" Discussing this topic seems to have helped him to forget the earlier thoughts that were hitting his mind li

Sotarou heard the words that Kylissia had spoken... but they only barely registered in his head as he kept thinking about scenarios and whatnot, why this girl out of everyone decided to come with him in the first place... was he singled out...? He'd heard of women like this in the real world, older women who prey on the younger guys... cougars, they were called...? But everything he'd heard, they were MUCH older... Kylissia couldn't be much older than... what... early 30s? Late 20s? Certainly older than him, but definitely not those 50+ year cougars. So probably not that... but then... why...?

It wasn't so much her calling him Sota-kun as much as the WAY she said it... something about it... Sotarou felt a little... off by it. He hadn't really thought much about girls growing up, his responsibilities were always on the forefront of his mind. But since coming to this place, those responsibilities were more in the back of his mind, reminders of his dog, of his dad, of the forge back home... and yet here he was now, those thoughts pushed back and all he could think to say was "I-I'm okay! Perfectly fine! Just... y-you threw me off a bit there... calling me Sota-kun..." He seemed a fair

"Sota-kun~" Sotarou literally faltered just as Kylissia woulda finished the wolf off! Had she not finished it off, he likely woulda been dog chow from how hard he had froze from that nickname! "Wh-wha..." His previous hardened demeanor and dour mood gave way to embarrassment apparent, complete with a bright flush on his face. "O-o-okay, then...!" This... was something he wasn't used to having happen to him. Girls never really paid attention to him in school, so... what was Kylissia thinking here...? Did she like him...? His embarrassment was increasing more and more by the second as