–As I thought… I just don’t resemble… my Onii-chan…
It was a thought that often filled her mind in recent days. She thought of this every time she saw her own face at the bathroom’s entrance. It wasn’t that she disliked her appearance; she didn’t care that much to begin with. But ever since her brother Kazuto returned to this house, her mind had began to subconsciously make comparisons.
–It’s no use, no matter how much I think about it.
Suguha shook her stubborn head and resumed stretching.
After she finished stretching, she picked up the shinai that was left propped up against the black pine. She gripped it, feeling the familiarity in her palm from its long use; then she straightened her back and assumed a centered posture.
She took a deep breath while maintaining her stance– then instantly, with sharpened vigor, she struck out directly frontward with the shinai. Her keen movement seemed to cut the morning air, which startled a number of sparrows as they all flew off from the branch overhead.
The Kirigaya family home was an old Japanese house that lingered alongside the dated streets of southern Saitama. The entire extended family had been living here, as Suguha’s grandfather, who had passed away four years ago, was a very strict and old-fashioned person.
He served in the police force for many years and was a famous kendo practitioner during his youth. He hoped that his only son, who was Suguha’s father, would continue in his footsteps on the path of kendo. Her father had grasped the shinai until high school, but then he readily gave it up to study abroad in America and eventually found employment at a foreign financial securities company. After being assigned to the Japanese branch, he met and married Suguha’s mother Midori, but continued a life of routine travelling across the Pacific ocean. By that time, Suguha’s grandfather had redirected his passion toward her and the one year older Kazuto.
Suguha and her brother were made to join the neighborhood kendo dojo during elementary school. But because of her mother’s influence as an editor for a computer systems magazine, her brother loved the keyboard far more than the shinai and left the dojo within two years. However, Suguha wasn’t like her brother. She had found an affinity with kendo and continued to grasp her shinai even after her grandfather died.
Suguha was now fifteen years old. Last year, she had advanced far enough in the middle school competitions to rank as one of the best in the nation. By springtime, she had been recruited by one of the most famous high schools in the prefecture.
But–
In the past, she had never lost her path forward. She really liked kendo: not only did it meet the expectations of those around her, it had also made her happy.
But two years ago, when her brother got involved in the incident that shook all of Japan, turmoil arose within her heart. One could say that she regretted deeply. Ever since her brother gave up Kendo when she was seven years old, a profound gap had opened up between the two of them, and Suguha was extremely regretful that she never put forth the effort to close the divide.
The brother who had cast aside the shinai spent every day immersed in computers, as if seeking to quench his remaining thirst. He built a machine from parts and then helped his mother program it when he was just an elementary school student. For Suguha, the stuff he talked about was like a foreign language.
Of course, school had taught Suguha some lessons in computer use, and she had a small computer in her room. However, her knowledge of computers was limited to just email exchange and web browsing; it was impossible for her to understand the world her brother lived in. This was especially the case for the networked RPG games her brother was addicted to, which had always felt detestable to her. Since then she had put on a fake persona, but she found it impossible to get closer to other people who also interacted with a false mask.
Ever since her childhood, Suguha and her brother shared a relationship that was as close as best friends. But as her brother left her for a whole different world, Suguha buried her loneliness by devoting herself wholeheartedly to kendo. The distance between them continued to expand, and their daily conversations continued to drop; before Suguha had realized it, their relationship had fallen to a merely normal one.
But truth be told, Suguha constantly felt lonely. She wanted to talk to her brother more. She wanted to understand her brother’s world, wanted her brother to come and watch her competitions.
However, just when she was about to express these feelings, that incident happened.
The nightmarish incident named “SWORD ART ONLINE”. Ten thousand youths from across Japan were confined by an electronic cage and fell into a long sleep.
Her brother had been admitted to a major hospital in Saitama. Then, on the first time Suguha had gone to visit him…
As she saw her comatose brother, restrained to the sickbed with numerous cords and concealed by that dreadful headgear, Suguha burst into tears. It was the first time since her birth that she cried. She simply clung to her brother and wept aloud.
There may never be another chance to exchange words with him. Why didn’t she try to close the distance between them earlier? It shouldn’t have been that difficult; it should have been possible for her.
It was then that she began to seriously reconsider whether she should continue to practice kendo and what her true feelings were. But she was so lost that she never found an answer. During her fourteenth and fifteenth years when she couldn’t see her brother, Suguha had entered a high school based on recommendations from others around her, but whether she should continue walking down this path was a doubt in her heart that would not disappear.
If her brother came back, then she would definitely talk to him a lot. She would get rid of all her confusion and anxiety, and frankly tell him her thoughts. Then, two months ago, after Suguha made her decision, a miracle occurred. Her brother had broken the curse through his own power and returned.
–But by that point, her relationship with her brother had already changed drastically. Suguha heard from her mother Midori personally that Kazuto was not her real brother, but actually a cousin.
Her father Minetaka was an only child, but her mother Midori had an older sister who passed away early; however, Suguha didn’t know about this. Therefore, when Suguha learned that Kazuto was her mother’s sister’s child, she found herself at a loss and wasn’t sure what type of relationship they should maintain. Should they be a little more distant? Should they remain the same? She had no idea how she should express herself over this relationship.
…Err. But there was one thing, that would not change…
As Suguha pondered over all this, she swung her shinai down sharply as if to cut her own train of thought. It was too scary to keep going down that path of thinking, so she began her practice with the shinai in order to redirect her attention elsewhere.
When she finished her required number of sets, the angle of the morning sun had changed significantly. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, put down the shinai, and turned back toward her house…
“Ah…”
The moment she looked toward the house, Suguha suddenly froze in her footsteps.
She wasn’t aware that Kazuto, who was wearing a sweatshirt and sitting on the porch, had been looking in her direction. As their eyes met, he smiled and spoke:
“Good morning.”
As he said that, he tossed the small bottle of mineral water in his left hand over to her. Suguha caught it with her right hand before responding:
“G-good morning…. Seriously, if you’ve been watching me, you should have said something.”
“But, it looked like you were seriously concentrating.”
“Not really, I’m always like this.”
Suguha secretly felt really happy that they were able to talk so naturally with one another over these two months. She picked a spot to Kazuto’s right which kept a delicate distance from him and then sat down. Setting the shinai aside, she opened the bottle and placed it at her mouth; the cold water pe
rmeated her hot body and felt refreshingly pleasant.
“I see you’ve kept it up this whole time…”
Kazuto picked up Suguha’s shinai and swung it lightly with his right hand from his sitting position. He immediately tilted his head to one side and said:
“So light…”
“Huh?”
Suguha removed the bottle from her mouth and looked at Kazuto.
“This is made of genuine bamboo, so it’s quite heavy actually. It’s about fifty grams heavier than the ones made from carbon.”
“Ah, uh huh. That… is merely what I felt… but when it comes to comparison…”
Kazuto suddenly plundered the bottle from Suguha’s hands and then quickly drank all the remaining water.
“Ah…”
Suguha’s face began to redden without even thinking about it. She pouted her lips and said unhappily.
“You, who are you trying to compare with?”
Kazuto put the empty bottle on the porch and then stood up without answering.
“Hey, want to try sparring with me?”
Dumbfounded, Suguha looked straight at Kazuto’s face.
“As in… a match?”
“Yes.”
Kazuto nodded as if it was natural, even though he didn’t have any interest in kendo.
“What about protectors…?”
“Hmmm, it’s probably okay if we don’t wear them… but it would be bad if Suguha got injured. I think grandfather’s protectors are still around, so let’s go to the dojo.”
“Oooh.”
Suguha completely forgot her hesitation from earlier and wondered why he would suddenly say such a thing; she smiled and said:
“Aren’t you confident? Trying to pick a match with a national quarter-finalist? Besides…”
Her facial expressions then changed.
“Is your body alright…? You shouldn’t be reckless…”
“Hehe, I’ll show you the results of my daily rehabilitation training at the gym.”
Kazuto chuckled and began to briskly walk toward the back of the house. Suguha hurried to follow.
The Kirigaya house was a rather spacious lot, and a dojo laid to the east of her mother’s room. They followed grandfather’s will and didn’t demolish it, so Suguha used it for her daily practice, thoroughly maintained it, and kept all the equipment there.
The two of them entered the dojo barefooted, bowed to each other, and then began to prepare themselves respectively. Fortunately, grandfather’s physique was almost the same as Kazuto’s; the protectors they brought out were old but just the right fit. As they finished tying the headgear’s laces at the same time, the two of them walked to the center of the dojo and bowed to each other once again.
Suguha slowly stood up from her crouching position, grasped her favorite shinai tightly, and took a centered stance. Meanwhile, Kazuto–
“W-what is that, Onii-chan?”
Upon seeing Kazuto’s stance, Suguha blurted out without thinking. Odd was the only way to describe it. His left foot was half a body in front, his waist was lowered, and the shinai in his right hand was held downwards with its tip nearly touching the floor. His left hand seemed as if it was only touching the handle for appearance’s sake.
“If a referee was here, he would be absurdly angry at that.”
“It’s fine, this is my sword style.”
Suguha took a deep breath and readjusted her posture. Kazuto further widened the distance between his feet and lowered his center of mass.
Suguha thought about kicking off with enough power to directly land a powerful strike against her opponent. But Kazuto’s weird stance made her unsure of what to do. Although there was an opening, it didn’t feel easy to take advantage of. That stance felt like it was the product of many years of experience–
However, that couldn’t be possible. Kazuto only wielded the shinai for two years when he was seven and eight. He only could have learned the basics during that time.
As if noticing Suguha’s confusion, Kazuto suddenly began to move. He dashed in at a low angle as if he was gliding and his shinai sprang upwards from his lower right. It was not of a speed to be surprised at, but as it was a sudden attack, Suguha had to move by reflex. And with her right foot opened up,
“Kote!!”[4]
Suguha swung down at Kazuto’s left forearm. It should have been perfectly timed, but her strike splendidly cut through the air.
It was an unbelievable dodge. Kazuto had released his left hand from the handle, and drew it towards his body. Was that even possible? Targeted at Suguha, taken aback with surprise, the shinai held by Kirito’s right hand alone rushed in. Confounded, she frantically dodged.
By the time the two swapped positions, having turned around to face each other as they kept a distance again, Suguha’s consciousness had changed completely. A pleasant tension filled her entire body, as though her blood was boiling. This time, it was Suguha’s turn to strike. Her forte, a forearm strike—
But this time as well, Kazuto cleanly evaded that. He pulled his arms back, twisted his body, and allowed Suguha’s shinai to slide past with a paper-thin gap. Suguha was dumbfounded. Her high-speed strikes were well-acclaimed even within the club, and she had no recollection of a scene with someone managing to clearly dodge all of her consecutive attacks.
Getting serious, Suguha began a fierce assault. She drove the tip of the shinai in continuously, striking faster than one could breathe. But Kazuto kept on dodging and dodging. The unfaltering movement of his eyes made it seem like he had already fully grasped the movement of Suguha’s shinai.
Irritated, Suguha forcibly closed the distance and locked her shinai against Kazuto’s. Against Suguha’s well-trained legs and torso, Kazuto began to stagger under the overwhelming pressure. Without letting him escape, Suguha seized the moment to launch a finishing blow directly toward Kazuto’s head.
“Men!!”[5]
‘Ah’, Suguha finally realized a moment too late. She didn’t hold back at all on her attack, and it crashed fiercely into the metal grill on Kazuto’s protective headgear. Bashiin! A high-pitched clang resounded throughout the dojo.
Kazuto continued to stagger backwards for a few steps before he finally stopped.
“A-are you okay, Onii-chan!?”
Suguha frantically asked. Kazuto lightly waved his left hand to show that he was fine.
“…Ah, I lost. Sugu sure is strong; Heathcliff doesn’t compare against you at all.”
“…Are you really alright…?”
“Yeah. Match finished.”
After saying that, Kazuto took several steps back and then made a few even stranger movements. He flourished the shinai in his right hand left and right, then held it to his back and made a “hyuhyun” sound. After that, he straightened his back and scratched his head beyond the mask with his left hand, which made a crunching sound. All of this made Suguha really worried.
“Ah, your head was hit, so…”
“N-no!! It’s just an old habit…”
After they bowed to each other, Kazuto sat down in a formal posture and began to untie the laces on his protectors.
The two of them left the dojo together, went to the washroom, and rinsed the sweat off their faces. She originally intended to just play around a bit; she never expected it to suddenly turn so serious and leave her entire body feeling overheated.
“Nevertheless, I was really surprised. Onii-chan, when did you practice?”
“Eh, that attack pattern of mine… seems like sword skills really can’t be managed without system assist.”
Once again, Kazuto muttered something that made absolutely no sense.
“But it was really fun. Maybe I should try kendo again…”
“Really!? Really!?”
Suguha suddenly became energetic as a broad smile stretched across her face and she began to insist on a response.
“Sugu, would you teach me?”
“O, of course! We’ll definitely train together!??
?
“We’ll have to wait until after my muscles recover though.”
Kazuto nodded, and Suguha smiled wholeheartedly. The thought of practicing kendo together once again made her so happy that tears were coming out from her eyes.
“Hey… Onii-chan… I…”
Although Suguha didn’t understand why Kazuto had a renewed interest in kendo, she was still really happy, and wanted to also tell him about her new interest. However, she quickly changed her mind and swallowed the words she was going to say.
“Hm?”
“Err, I guess it should stay a secret for now.”
“What’s up with that!?”
The two of them dried off their heads and then returned to the main house through the back door. Her mother Midori always worked in the mornings, so Suguha and Kazuto took turns in preparing breakfast.
“I’m going to take a shower, Onii-chan do you have any plans for today?”
“Ah…today, I’m… I’m going to the hospital…”
“…”
Suguha’s high spirits suddenly sank as she heard his quiet response.
“I see, you’re going to visit that person.”
“Ah… that’s the only thing I can do at this point.”
That person was the most important one to him in that other world, and Suguha heard this directly from him a month ago. At the time, Suguha was in Kazuto’s room; the two sat next to each other, and Kazuto was nursing a cup of coffee as he explained all the details. The Suguha from before would never have believed it possible that someone could fall in love in a virtual world. But now, she could somehow understand. Besides– whenever Kazuto spoke of that person, tears would always well up in his eyes.
Kazuto said that they were together until the very last moment. The two of them were definitely going to return to the real world together. But while Kazuto’s consciousness awoke, that person only kept on sleeping. Nothing happened– or maybe something did happen and nobody knew about it. Ever since then, as long as he had time, Kazuto would go visit the hospital every three days to see that person.
Suguha could see it clearly. Kazuto, sitting in front of that sleeping person, holding their hand just like she once held his, calling out to them tirelessly. As soon as she visualized that image, a feeling that couldn’t be described floated to the top of her heart. Her chest tightened painfully, and every breath felt difficult. She hugged herself tightly with both hands and directly sat down at where she was.