Chapter 4: Blindsided
"A - A scholar you say!?"
Asuna's mother looked at me with an expression of shock after hearing my answer. Such a feeling was not excluded to her alone, everyone at the table was taken aback.
"Where did this come from? When did you ever care for your studies?"
My father, still in a state of shock, asked me this question. His doubts were not unfounded after all. Last time, I didn't just go into professional gaming, I also dropped out of high school. I never did focus on my studies, be it now or in the future.
However...
"Well I do now, I want to become a man worthy of Asuna," I stated towards my audience. Things were different now, I knew what fate was in store for us, I won't take the same path knowing it would be futile. Dreams? I had already experienced one life living my dream, and one was more than enough. It is alright if I gave it up in the second one.
A few seconds had now passed since I gave out my statement, yet everyone's eyes were still fixated on me.
*Cough* *Cough*
After I gave a couple awkward coughs, they snapped back to their senses. While they were surprised by my statement, especially since it was from a 13-year-old, they were happy. Asuna's parents were glad they could leave their daughter with me and my own parents were proud of their son.
Of course, this all doesn't matter if I don't own up to my statements. If I don't become a good scholar like I had said, then I would risk not being together with Asuna. We won't be separated this time, I will make sure of it.
---
We finished up the night with a desert and my family prepared to leave the Yuuki estate. We were led outside by all the Yuuki's minus the brother who was still absent despite it being 9:00 PM.
Mr. and Mrs. Yuuki waved goodbye to us; however, Asuna did not. She had an anxious look on her face for a while now, even more than the one she had at the park earlier. Of course, I noticed her expression earlier, but I never brought it up. It was because I knew the reason for it.
"Do you really want to become a scholar Cage?"
Asuna stepped towards me, still wearing that anxious look of hers. I thought she would keep silent and ask me once we were alone, however it seems she could not hold it in. Asuna knew that I had a dream of my own. When she heard me say I wanted to become a scholar, she was probably the most surprised at the table. She was probably thinking that I was throwing away what I wanted to do because of her, and she was correct. Even so, there was no need for her to be concerned for me. I saw what was at the end of my dream, and if I were to be honest, I would rather not have to experience it again.
Thus, I suppose I am not doing this only for Asuna. Rather, this could be me just running away, using Asuna's death as an excuse. Was that really the case?
No.
The truth of the matter is that I get separated from Asuna due to me pursuing a gaming career. While us being separated could be in no way be connected to her death, it surely doesn't help prevent it. That being the case it would be better if I was with her. Thus, if she was ever in trouble I can protect her, that was all I can do for now.
"Yes, I will become a scholar," I responded back to Asuna showing my resolution. It came off a bit coldly though as I turned my back towards her and walked off beyond the gate.
I must stay with Asuna. I refuse to see her fate on a television screen. Rather, I refuse to see her end up dead once again. I may not know how she died, it may have been an accident, or it may not have, but all that does not matter.
I will protect her.
---
{October 30th, 2022}
Over two years had passed since I came back in time. Instead of devoting my life to gaming, I focused fully on school. At the start it was extremely rough; after all, I hadn't studied in almost 10 years (since dropping out of high school in 1st timeline). I constantly got distracted from my daily habits, mainly surrounding gaming. I fell into multiple lapses of hardcore gaming, even though there was no ***, I tried out different games. There were many that were similar to *** and I played them often. Despite, my resolution to study hard to become a better man for Asuna, it seemed to be harder than I thought. I began to notice that the time I was gaming continued to increase, while the time I studied decreased. Of course, this did no help to my grades which were already bad enough. Thus, before things got out of hand, I decided to isolate myself from gaming. It took some effort to say the least. Much of the work I needed to do for school involved a computer, yet it was also on the computer where you can play games. Since video games were easily accessible on my computer, I decided to throw mine out. To replace it, I had to get an antique, one that did not have the hardware to be able to play any games. It was basically what a flip phone was to a smart phone. Speaking of, I also decided to get flip phone myself since a smart phone was too dangerous as well.
Once I fully isolated myself I was able to concentrate more on studying. There were many moments of just lounging around trying to avoid work; however, I was able to get through it and my grades started to improve. Soon enough, I found myself at the top of my class.
My parents were very happy to see my recent results. It was strange to see my father look at me with pride in his eyes; it made me think of what happened in the previous future.
As for my mother, she seemed the same, she supported me no matter what I did. That being the case, it was always hard to figure out what she was truly thinking.
Aside from school, I also continued to look into events happened the first time around. Both that happened years back and that were currently unfolding. But still, no matter how much digging I did, I never found another irregularity.
There was a little problem with current gaming events since I completely blocked myself from looking into it, but I judged the amount of information I gained from that phase at the start was enough.
Last was Asuna, in these last 2 years we had continued to go out during the weekends for the most part. This was because she went to an all-girls school and thus we rarely met up during the weekdays. It was a little discouraging not being able to go to the same school as her. I even considered cross dressing once just so I could study alongside her. Though, I suppose that would take things too far.
Despite going to different schools, Asuna did take some time to help me study. Those were probably the only times outside of the weekend that we would meet up. I also told her about my anti-gaming resolution, she thought it was funny, but did notice the seriousness of it. Thus, she did not bring up anything regarding the subject in front of me.
However, in the end, all of this backfired. I wanted to get away through any means to end my addiction. I blocked out anything regarding the subject of gaming. That's why I was completely blindsided by today's reveal.
---
It was a Sunday, Asuna and I were out on a simple date. We were walking down the streets and we came across a very techy store. There were posters plastered across the windows showing the Nerve Gear.
They call it the first full dive tech in existence and such, but I was very doubtful of it. It was probably just one of those small scams that blew over without me realizing it the first time around. I couldn't remember every small detail after all, especially those a decade old.
Anyway, it sounds too fantasy-like for it to actually exist. However, even my father got caught up in the scam and purchased the Nerve Gear. Of course, him being the head of a software company, he should conduct research of his own. Yet, even 10 years from now into the future, our world was still far from realizing full dive tech. Thus, I thought of exploring it a worthless endeavor and never really bothered with it.
As I was thinking that Asuna then spoke up once she noticed the poster, "Mmm, this reminds me that Sword Art Online is coming out in a week."
.... I don't think I heard her right, "Excuse me, what is coming out in a week?"
"Ah! My bad, I know you don't like hearing about video games. It's just Onii-sama was really excited when he was talking about playing it on launch day," Asuna seemed genuinely sorry.
However, that was not what I wanted to hear, what I really wanted to hear was, "It's fine, what was that game called again?"
Asuna tilted her head to the side expressing her curiosity over my interest in this game and said, "It is Sword Art Online or SAO for short."
"SAO!?"
It was as if my world completely froze once I heard the title.
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