Sword Art Online - Volume 22 - Chapter 4.8

8 

“Are you ready, Yuuki?” 

Yuuki replied to Dr. Kurahashi through the speaker with a crisp “Ready!” The adjustable glass that separated Yuuki’s clean room from the adjacent monitoring room promptly went translucent. 

In the monitoring room, which was as cramped as a hallway, Dr. Kurahashi was wearing a white lab coat rather than his usual outfit. He was joined by Ran in her pajamas and a girl in a wheelchair who looked slightly older. 

“…Happy birthday, Yuuki!” 

Merida’s real voice was a bit hoarser than how she sounded in the virtual world. Under the light-green beanie she wore, her face was sunken, and her skin was pale. But her big eyes were shining and strong. 

“Thank you…thank you, Merida,” Yuuki said. She was forbidden from touching the glass, but she could get as close as possible short of that. Merida wheeled her chair a foot or two closer, until her face was nearly touching the thick glass, and then she smiled. 

“You and Ran both look almost exactly the way you do over there. I’m sorry…I brought flowers for you two, but they can’t put them in your room.” 

Sure enough, there was a small bouquet of flowers on Merida’s lap. 

“It’s fine. I’m just happy that I can see them from here! They’re so pretty…Thank you so much, Merida,” Yuuki said hastily. 

From below the bouquet, Merida extended her hand toward the window. Her frail fist was holding something small in it. Yuuki stared closely, trying to see it. 

“Yuuki, Ran…listen. Instead of giving you presents, I’m going to make you a promise. I’ll never say I want to go to that place again. This is the proof.” 

Merida lifted her other hand and plucked the small, rectangular object she was holding—a memory card. 

Printed on the card was a tiny label with a logo the size of a rice kernel, but Yuuki could recognize it clear as day. 

Sword Art Online. 

Merida closed her eyes and moved her lips. The mic didn’t pick up the sound, but Yuuki clearly heard her voice saying “Good-bye.” 

She tensed her fingers to the point that they trembled—and then the little plastic memory card snapped in two. 

In the end, the police department’s planned operation to forcefully disengage all the SAO Incident victims’ NerveGear did not happen. The deadly game was beaten before they could move their scheme out of the planning stage, returning six thousand survivors to the real world. 

That was about half a year after Yuuki and Ran’s fourteenth birthday. The day the Sleeping Knights were formed. 

(The End)