“Sakuya-nee! We’ve spotted some locals heading this way, probably to scout the area, should we intercept them?” Leafa, also known as Sugu in her previous world, as second in command of Sylphs, anxiously asked her superior, The Fairy Lord Sakuya-sama as she landed on the terrace at the Sylph Headquarters of Alne to give report.

  “Tsch... How many?” A frowning woman sitting at her desk asked with a grave voice as she let go of her pen and faced away from the documents which she had been going through religiously for the past hour to face the second Sylph in the room who was now in front of her.

  For a female Sylph, Lady Sakuya had a curvy, slightly plump figure, with glossy, dark green hair so dark that it was nearly black, hanging down her back. She had white skin, almond eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips. ‘A beauty indeed, just like a finely honed blade’ as Leafa would say to herself if this had been a better time...

  Sakuya was wearing her trademark Japanese-style clothing and a katana that hangs from her obi. Her feet clad in high crimson clogs peek out from beneath the hem of her leaf green kimono as she was sitting legs crossed, awaiting a reply from her blond second-in-command.

  Leafa quickly replied, “according to Shin-ch — (cough) — Sinon, there are twenty of them, most of them wearing similar black robes...”

  Though Leafa may look like she was worried about the intelligence she had just reported to her superior, Lady Sakuya obviously had a very good idea about what was really making her this anxious, yet she chose to ignore it for the time being.

  “Were they armed?”

  Leafa shook her head as she replied,

  ”Not from what we’ve seen.”

  “Hmm, all magicians then? And twenty... It doesn’t seem to be an efficient way to scout... And they’re even openly walking without even... Are they that confident of themselves, walking so brazenly at the unknown? Or are they just idiots?” Lady Sakuya thought out loud but then, as she finished her sentence, a terrible scenario went on inside her head as she unconsciously gave it life through her following words,

  “No! maybe they were the ones that brought us here and by coming here, they will... Masaka... Or not? Hmmm...”

  “Anoo, Sakuya-nee?” The timid blond Sylph clad in her usual green clothes asked, her face grimaced despite her efforts to smile as she was not willing to wait a second more.

  “What is it?” The Faery Lord asked even though she had a not so vague idea about what will come next.

  “I was wondering, did you perhaps find any lead as to where onii-chan could be yet?”

  It’s been slightly more than ten hours since the shocking announcement which came in the form of a screen alert to all players, stating that they were now in a different world where only some part of Alfheim was transported... That only the city of Alne survived and all the online players besides the ones inside Alne and Aincrad have been teleported to the City Hall. The message stressed on being careful about the locals as they were not that far and much more numerous than them. Lastly it stated that the next message will be sent by the time the gaming mechanics have been fixed to it’s original state.

  They didn’t believe it at first, thinking it as some kind of a major event, but as time went by, more and more of the players thought that they were now the victims of a new SAO incident as they couldn’t even open up the menu let alone exiting the game.

  But eventually, after the players themselves noticed the amount of detail in this ‘game’ which was obviously much more than it should normally be, they further fell into panic, some even outright denied that everything happening around them was in any way real. But thankfully, after the Faery Leaders’ shared speech of hope and patience, many had no choice but to suck it up and accept this as reality.

  Unfortunately, there were some players who couldn’t take it and even hurt themselves, even going as far as to trying to kill themselves to ‘wake up’ from such a nightmare as they had their cherished loved ones waiting for them ‘on the other side’ to wake up. Thankfully they were saved by a couple of healers nearby who managed to heal them before it was too late, and so for their protection, they have been kept under a sleep magic ever since...

  To calm the players, Lady Sakuya later had an epiphany. She came up with the useful idea of making it so that music will never stop all around Alne which would make the atmosphere of the city a little bit more livelier, and thanks to some hard-working and brave Pooka faeries, it was a success. She really was proving her resourcefulness in these kind of situations.

  Also, even though the Faery Lords of the Pookas and Imps were not here, thanks to Lady Sakuya’s reputation and charisma, she was not only able to gain their trust and calm them down, but she was also able to show her dependability in such a crisis which would definitely not go unnoticed by the other players including the Faery Lords.

  Sakuya slowly shook her head,

  “Unfortunately, we still couldn’t find him.”

  “What about the World Tree? Have you managed to go there? Did Yggdrasil City really just, vanish?” The worried sister asked with unease,

  “We have tried every magic that we could, even General Eugene of the Salamanders couldn’t manage to put a dent on the barrier around the World Tree. It’s just too strong. I even asked Alicia to lend us some of her finest dragons to bypass the barrier, but apparently the dragon tamers really struggled in controlling even the weakest among them monsters as they all refused to listen to them.” She finished her sentence with a tired sigh, but she then added her last one,

  “And as for Yggdrasil City, we have confirmed that, just like the alert panel had said, it is not there anymore. So, Leafa, even if we did manage to bypass that barrier, there is only a very slim chance that your brother will be there...”

  Leafa rudely interjected, her voice shaking, tears forming in her eyes...

  “How? Just how can you be so indifferent? Aren’t you worried about onii-chan at all? Even though you had spent even more time with him these last few months than I had spent with him for the past year?! Don’t you get it Sakuya? He could have had a second chance! If onii-chan is not here, then that means he will die on that bed! You’ve seen him, his real body... How can you say it as if... You know what? I was wrong about you, apparently, it’s not your problem! Since all this happened, I have been with you the most, yet I didn’t see you being sad or frustrated even once! It’s like you don’t even care one bit that we probably won’t ever return to our World! Nor do you care that onii-chan is not with us! Maybe you’re even happy? Happy to finally escape from your oh so stressful job? To escape from that ‘hellhole’ you called as ‘real life’? I clearly saw how you looked while giving your speech. You really were like y...”

  Slap!

  Lady Sakuya coldly cut her in midsentence, seething at her in rage. Leafa flinched, it was the first time for her to see her this outraged.

  “You better not finish that sentence, Suguha! I know I may have been a bit cold, but right now we are facing a huge crisis. I can not bear all the burden all by myself! Although we have managed to calm the masses for the time being thanks to the cooperation of all the faction leaders, it probably will not last for long if further progress is not made soon! You! You, as my most trusted second-in-command! I need you to be watching my back, with your head held high,” She then went on her speech, this time exasperated.

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  “You are not the only one worried about Kirry-kun, I also consider him as my precious brother for goodness sake Leafa! Haven’t I treated the both of you as the little-sister and the little-brother that I’ve never had?!”

  Leafa avoided her superior’s gaze as she reflected on what an idiot she had been in her emotionally weak state... And she was even about to say some more awful things to her sister in everything but blood...

  It was true. Sakuya-nee was there for her even when Sugu learned of her brother’s cancer. She even managed to ‘convince’ her onii-chan to give her their address, visiting her in real life to console her, even to the point of coming to her house and cooking meals for her...

  Between her life as a carrier woman and as a hard-core gamer, Sakuya-nee somehow managed to find the time to hang out with her, a ‘muscle for brains kendo girl with a ‘huge’ brother complex’. She was even the only one that Suguha admitted to having a ‘crush’ on his brother to...

  “I’m really sorry...” Leafa said, deeply regretting her previous outburst with her now red ears tilting down as her crying intensified.

  Lady Sakuya who stood just a few paces away from her, couldn’t take the scene of seeing her ‘sister’ crying in front of her anymore so, she let out a sad sigh all the while holding her arms open, waiting for the Sylph in question...

  “Saa, will you keep your onee-san waiting like this?” She asked with a mock hurt, seeing Leafa hesitating...

  ‘Onee-san’ was what Sakuya liked to be called by Suguha not just in real life, but also in ALO as well but no matter what she did, Leafa just wouldn’t call her onee-san inside the game...

  But this time, before calling her “onee-san!” and running into her sister’s arms, Leafa just momentarily gazed at Sakuya’s face, even though she was not looking sad or crying, Leafa could now tell... Just how stupid she had been... Both with Sakuya-nee and onii-chan! How could she not see this before? Was she so blinded by her ‘feelings’? It was there! So obvious! Yet so elusive...

  From that moment on, Kirigaya Suguha, now as Leafa, will not let either her onii-chan nor Sakuya-nee feel alone because of her own selfishness!