"So that's it."
"No. Not yet."
"...?"
"There's still one important thing left."
Her expression reminded Satoru of the Monument of Swordsmen in the Black Iron Palace. The Sleeping Knights had never set out merely to defeat a Floor Boss. They wanted every member's name engraved on the monument as proof that their guild had existed. The new inscription probably had not appeared yet.
Siune's answer was nothing like what he expected.
"The victory party. You're coming with us!"
"..."
"Yeah, let's make it a big one!" Jun grinned. "We've still got plenty left in the budget. Where should we hold it? We could rent out a restaurant in one of the major towns."
Most of that budget came from the nearly 400,000 Yrd raised by selling the crystals Satoru had handed over, but whatever remained had effectively become the Sleeping Knights' operating fund.
Yuuki's face lit up at once.
"Then let's buy the drinks first! By the barrel. We need barrels!"
"They don't sell the sweet potato shochu Nori likes here," Talken said, pushing up his glasses.
Nori shot back immediately. "What are you talking about? I never said I liked sweet potato shochu. I like aged awamori!"
"They're both clear, aren't they?"
Jun's response sent everyone into laughter. Satoru laughed with them, then glanced at Yuuki. Her smile was as bright as ever, but sadness still flickered behind it.
They began at Ronbaru's central market, where they bought enough food and alcohol for a small army. From there, they teleported to the Twenty-Second Floor and rented an entire tavern.
Before long, dishes and bottles covered the tables. They opened the barrel Nori had been waiting for and filled their glasses with golden liquor. Once everything was ready, all seven gathered around the table.
Yuuki raised her glass, beaming.
"To clearing the Floor Boss... cheers!"
They answered in chorus. Glasses clinked, everyone drank, and the celebration descended into cheerful chaos almost immediately.
Jun and Tecchi argued over the boss fight while Nori and Talken compared the drinks available in ALO. Beside them, Satoru listened as Yuuki and Siune traded stories about the VRMMO worlds they had visited.
"The worst was definitely that American game, Insectsite."
Yuuki hugged herself and shuddered.
"Oh... that one."
Siune hunched her shoulders with a strained smile.
"What was so bad about it?" Satoru asked.
"Bugs! Nothing but bugs! The monsters were bugs, and that would have been bad enough, but we were bugs too. At least I got a cockroach avatar that walked on two legs. Siune, though..."
"No! Don't tell him!"
"She was a giant caterpillar! And she shot silk right out of her mouth..."
Yuuki broke down laughing before she could finish.
Siune puffed out her cheeks.
Satoru, however, had lost his appetite. He was terrified of insects, especially cockroaches. As a child, he had caught them and held them like toys. Somehow, growing older had turned the sight of those black creatures into one of his worst fears.
A VRMMO like that actually existed.
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
"That sounds nice, though... all of you traveling through so many worlds together."
"What about you, big bro? It sounds like you've been playing VRMMOs for a long time."
"I've spent a long time in a few worlds. I haven't actually played that many different games."
Siune suddenly gasped.
"Oh no, I forgot! Speaking of money... When we asked Samuro-san to help with the boss, we agreed that all the drops would go to him and that we'd return whatever was left from the crystal money. What are we going to do? We spent so much."
"I completely forgot too!" Yuuki cried.
Both women slumped apologetically. Satoru cast an amused glance toward the other side of the table. Jun and Nori pretended not to have heard, but guilt was written all over their faces.
So those were the real schemers.
"It's fine. Keep whatever you want. But..."
He paused, his expression sharpening.
"Our agreement may be over, but I'd still like more time to talk with Yuuki. There are a lot of things I want to ask her."
He chose his words carefully. By now, he was certain that the girl before him possessed a Fluctlight, but he had no idea how to ask her about it. The phenomenon itself remained almost impossible to explain. In the end, he decided it would be better to approach the subject indirectly and learn what he could by spending more time with her.
"I want to join the Sleeping Knights for real. I want to be one of you."
Yuuki did not answer. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, and the old uncertainty returned to her wide violet eyes.
Siune and the other four had gone quiet as well. All of them watched Yuuki and Satoru across the table. Yuuki held his gaze for a long time before she finally spoke, her voice weaker and less certain than he had ever heard it.
"The thing is... we're going to disband the Sleeping Knights soon. Probably by spring. After that, I don't think any of us will be logging in very often."
"I know. That doesn't change anything. I want to be friends with you, Yuuki, and with everyone else. We still have enough time for that, don't we?"
His reasons were mostly selfish. He had not made a new friend in a long time, nor had he intended to look for one. Maybe the offer was hypocritical. It did not matter.
This time, he refused to let go.
Satoru leaned closer and looked straight into Yuuki's eyes. For the first time, she immediately turned away and shook her head.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, big bro. I really am."
She apologized again and again, her voice carrying a pain he had never heard from her. Something was wrong, but he could not bring himself to press her.
"I see... No, I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have put you on the spot."
"It's just... I... we..."
Siune tried to finish for her, but even she could not find the words.
Satoru looked around at their strained faces, then clapped his hands and forced some energy into his voice.
"Sorry. I dropped something strange on all of you out of nowhere. Come on, let's go see that other thing."
"What other thing?"
He patted Siune and Yuuki on the shoulder.
"We forgot the most important part. The Monument of Swordsmen in the Black Iron Palace should have updated by now."
"Oh, right!" Jun leaped to his feet.
"Come on, hurry! We need pictures!"
"Shall we?" Satoru asked again.
Yuuki finally raised her head and managed a faint smile.
They emerged from the teleport gate into the familiar central plaza of the Town of Beginnings.
"Wow, this place really is huge! Everyone, this way!"
Yuuki hurried between the flower beds with the enormous palace at her back. The square silhouette of the Black Iron Palace soon rose ahead of them. In Aincrad, it had once been an ominous prison for criminals. Now it was one of the city's most famous attractions, drawing everyone from first-time players to hardened veterans.
Cold air brushed their skin as they passed through the tall gates. Beneath the unusually high ceiling, the steps of countless players rang against the iron floor.
Yuuki led the group deeper into the palace. Beyond the second inner gate, the noise softened, and an immense black monument dominated the quiet hall.
"There it is!"
Jun and Nori ran ahead, reaching the base of the Monument of Swordsmen several seconds before the others. They craned their necks, searching the dense rows of text for the latest entry.
"There... I found it."
Near the center of the gleaming iron monument, seven names had been carved beneath the inscription [Braves of the 27th Floor].
"They're there... Our names..."
Yuuki stared up at them, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Hey, picture time!" Jun called from behind them. "Come on, smile."
The six Sleeping Knights lined up in front of the monument. Jun opened the shutter window on a Screenshot Camera Crystal, set the timer, and released it. The crystal hovered in place as the countdown flashed above it.
Jun hurried between Yuuki and Tecchi. The instant all six smiled, the crystal gave a sharp click and flashed.
"Got it!"
Jun ran back to retrieve the crystal while Satoru and Yuuki turned toward the monument again.
"Wait... Why is your name on the Twenty-Sixth Floor too, big bro?"
Satoru hesitated. The inscription was undeniable proof that he, Souji, and two others had brought down the Magic Warrior through a combination of money and skill.
"I was on their side back then," he said.
"What does Samuro mean, anyway?"
"Nothing special. It came from a hero I used to like. I've borrowed plenty of names that way: Grom, Yurnero, Akfys."
He had explained his nicknames before, so he kept the answer brief.
The girl beside him went rigid.
"Yur...nero?"
She was silent for several seconds, as if afraid to ask what came next.
"Yeah. Yurnero was the name I used most often."
Satoru nodded, unaware of what had changed.
"I never told you, did I? I was an SAO player. I went by Yurnero back then. I started using Samuro later, in GGO, and the converted account kept that name here."
He felt her stare burning into him and turned instinctively.
Yuuki's eyes had flared gold.
"...!"
Countless emotions churned behind that golden light. To Satoru, however, it carried only a crushing familiarity. The hostility and desperate longing inside it pressed against him so hard that he could barely breathe.
He was killed.
Yurnero killed him.
He had seen those eyes before. He remembered the weight of their gaze.
For an instant, he saw a proud, powerful man wielding a pale halberd.
Pale gold swallowed Satoru's black pupils. The moment his gaze met hers, the force behind it overwhelmed her. He did not think. He simply gave in to the impulse surging through him and spoke the name that surfaced.
"Kai...zuka?"
It was only a question, but the word struck Yuuki like a blade. The gold vanished from her eyes, leaving stunned grief behind. She stared at Satoru and slowly backed away, shaking her head as though every trace of strength had left her.
Then she hit the logout button and disappeared.
Satoru stood frozen where she had left him. The pale gold in his eyes did not fade. It only deepened.
His hand closed into a fist.
Something had connected. After all this time, the empty pursuit finally felt real again.
He stared at the place where Yuuki had vanished. The emptiness inside him had never felt so full. He had finally touched something tied to those days.
"The answer," he whispered. "A chance... to find the answer."
His pale-gold eyes shone with a wild, almost manic delight.