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pulaasul · 4 years

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Rairyu - SAO 2

[lit. Thunder Dragon] Ryuji and Futaba promised to meet in Sword Art Online with Ryuji going in first to scout for suitable grinding areas. However, before Futaba could get into the game, Sojiro stopped her and revealed to her the status of Sword Art Online as a Death Game. [Prologue is an entry for #kissryujiday]

C1 I C2 I C3

FFN I AO3

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYUJI!!!!

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A week had gone by and no one has any inkling on how to defeat the first floor boss.

Let alone find the entrance to it.

Ryuji, known in game as Rairyu, had gone to the different towns and dungeons on the first floor and grinded his level. Fortunately, there were no people planning to exit life while he was preoccupied with leveling up.

In between his grinding sessions, he had begun guiding children he had found trying their hand at leveling up but were too ill-equipped for the task. He took them to an orphanage owned by someone named Sasha. He's become a regular to the kids residing in the orphanage.

"How's your grinding session lately Rairyu-san?" Sasha asked as she prepared Ryuji a piece of bread and a cup of drink.

"As fine as it can be." Ryuji replied. "If there's one thing I'm thankful is that there are no children in those relatively high-level dungeon areas."

"That's great news." Sasha nodded as she placed down the food items before Rairyu. "It means there are no more kids at risk of dying."

"I don't know about that." Ryuji shook his head. "I was only referring to the kids under leveled to perform a raid." He admitted. "There's still a lot of kids who are admittedly higher level than I am and are risking their lives."

"That's horrible." Sasha covered her arms in horror.

"Sadly, a lot of SAO's players are kids." Ryuji sighed. "There are adults sure, take the entirety of the Aincrad Liberation Squad and MMOToday, both unofficial guilds, as examples." He pointed out. "But there's a lot more kids."

"Aren't you a kid yourself Rairyu?" Sasha questioned. "Your vulgarity seems to imply that."

"Oh come on!" Rairyu groaned. "You've heard about that too?"

Sasha merely giggled at the boy's reaction.

"But no." Ryuji shook his head. "I turned 18 a little while ago." He shared.

"Still on the young side then." Sasha clapped her hands. "I'm six years your senior." She shared. "For an adult, you sure don't like coffee." She pointed out.

Before Ryuji could even reply, someone barged in on the orphanage and demanded for Ryuji's attention.

"What's up?" Ryuji called out. "I'm Rairyu."

"Someone's about to jump off." The female player called. "Hurry."

Without a moment's hesitation, Ryuji immediately dashed towards Aincrad's edges and there he found a very young player, a few years younger than him, standing on the edge.

"Hey kid." Ryuji called out. "Surely things can't end here, can it?" He asked the boy. "You can't give up."

"What's it to you?!" The boy replied bitterly. "I know who you are Mister Vulgar Blonde Talker." He spat.

"If you know who I am, then you know why I'm here right." Ryuji offered.

"Whatever." The boy rolled his eyes and simply looked at the endless void of clouds below the floating castle. "Your sob story won't work on me." He scoffed.

"Then why are you doing this then." Ryuji asked again

"If you can resurrect my younger brother." The boy glared at Ryuji. "Then I'll step off of the ledge."

The reason stunned Ryuji. He didn't think that circumstances inside the game would also be a reason why people would want to log out of life permanently.

"That's what I thought." The boy scoffed.

"Would your brother want you to do this?" Ryuji asked as he looked at his boots. "Would he want you to kill yourself?"

"I don't care." The boy replied coldly. "He isn't here to tell us what he wants."

"Eff that! You don't care about your brother at all." Ryuji growled as he faced the grief-stricken boy.

"What did you say?!" The boy faced Ryuji angrily. "I dare you to repeat what you said!" He yelled. "I dare you!"

"You don't care about your brother at all." Ryuji growled.

"Why you?!" The boy retrieved his knives and activated a sword skill, ready to strike Rairyu

Ryuji made no move to defend himself.

Ryuji knew he was in the safe zone, while there was a knockback effect, he knew his HP won't drop.

One of the boy's knives glowed purple, he then threw the knife at Rairyu

Ryuji was knocked back a few paces away from the boy but he managed to stand his ground despite the knockback effect in place.

The boy continued to throw his knives at Ryuji, while he never did anything to defend himself from the boy's projectiles.

As soon as the boy ran out of knives, he retrieved his sword, placed it on his shoulders and activated a sword skill and its blade glowed purple. After a moment he dashed towards Rairyu and stabbed him.

Ryuji was knocked back a few meters away from where he originally stood as he took the boy's attack.

"I loved and cared for my younger brother!" The boy growled as tears fell from his eyes. "How dare you say that I didn't care for him?"

"Because you're using him as an excuse." Ryuji answered calmly. "You're using him to justify you taking your own life." He added.

"I was supposed to protect him!" The boy sobbed. "We promised each other that we'd get out of this game together!"

"I get that." Ryuji comforted the boy and engulfed him in a hug. "It's never easy to lose someone you love." He continued. "But what about those who love you outside?" He asked. "I'm sure they're sad and grieving at the loss of your brother. "Would you really put them through to the same kind of sadness because of you" He questioned.

"T-they wouldn't care." The boy sniffled. "I-I…" He hiccupped. "I f-failed to protect my brother." He continued. "T-they'd wish that I was the one dead in-instead."

"You know that's not true." Ryuji offered comfortingly. "Yes they'd be upset." He admitted. "But they'd never wish for you to be dead as well." He assured. "Or worse, be in your brother's stead."

"You don't know my parents." The boy sobbed. "They loved my younger brother so much." He explained. "He was their favorite."

"Yes I do not know them." Ryuji nodded. "However, do you really know them?" Ryuji fired the question back. "Most parents would be upset that you failed to protect your brother, but they'd also be thankful that you survived as well."

"How can you say that?" The boy asked. "You had a deadbeat father who beat you up."

"I can say that because he wasn't always that way." Ryuji admitted. "Something bad happened to him and he took it out on me and ma." He continued. "Are you saying your parents are the same as my father?"

"N-no!" The boy immediately denied the claim.

"Then how can you say that your parents would wish for you to be dead instead?" Ryuji asked.

"Because… because…." The boy started. "Because… because they lost their favorite son."

"They'd rather lose a son than lose the both of you." Sasha stated as she stood behind the boy, still in Ryuji's arms. "I too lost a sibling once." She explained. "We mourned and grieved for my sister but they were still thankful that I was still alive."

"Just cry it out." Ryuji suggested. "Just cry it out." He repeated. "Everything will settle down once you've cried it all out."

The boy looked at Ryuji's eyes then buried his face in his chest and sobbed as loudly as he could. The feelings of hurt, guilt, inadequacy, failure, all came rushing to the boy as he cried and cried.

Ryuji and Sasha looked at each other as the blonde rubbed the boy's back comfortingly.

"You know Rairyu, you really do go out of your way to prevent people from jumping off." Sasha commented. "You bare yourself to them just so they'd think otherwise."

"I witnessed a friend jump off of the roof of our school." Ryuji admitted. "Didn't think she had it in her to commit it, but she did." He sighed. "All because a teacher threatened her female best friend if she didn't subject herself to him." He added. "So I promised to myself to stop anyone who'd commit suicide with the best of my abilities."

"That's so horrible!" Sasha gasped. "Was that teacher, Suguru Kamoshida?"

Ryuji just gave Sasha a sad smile as he remembered the suffering he, Shiho and Anne went through while under that teacher.

"I'm so happy that the Phantom Thieves changed his heart." Sasha offered. "Who knows what else he could have done had that not be the case." She shivered.

"He's a pervert and envious, I can tell you that much."

As the boy cried, Sasha and Ryuji talked and diverted away from the topic of Kamoshida and talked about something else. They waited for the boy with them to release all his pent up emotions and calm down.

Not long after, Sasha and Ryuji noticed that the boy had actually cried himself to sleep.

Ryuji and Sasha carefully placed the boy on top of Ryuji's back and returned to the orphanage. As they neared the orphanage, they met with the kids who were staying there.

Kids who Ryuji placed in the orphanage to be taken care of.

"It's Sha-nee and Rai-nii!" A little girl announced.

"She's right!" Another girl nodded.

"Sha-nee! Rai-nii!" The kids ran up to the pair. "Where were you?!" They asked.

"Oi!" A relatively older girl called out. "Rai-nii is carrying a sleeping boy." She chided. "At least wait until they've placed him on a bed."

"Sorry Rai-nii."

"No harm no foul." Ryuij chuckled. "But Saki's right." He stated. "At least wait until nii-chan has put him on a bed okay?"

"Okay!" The kids replied.

"Now you wait by the dining area." The girl known as Saki instructed the kids. "Rai-nii and Sha-nee will be with you shortly."

"Okay!"

Saki faced the older pair and led them to the sleeping area of the orphanage, while the kids rushed off to the orphanage's dining area.

"What happened?" Saki asked.

"Just cried himself to sleep." Sasha assured. "Rai-nii stopped him from doing something awful."

"That's great!" Saki praised.

"It's nothing special." Ryuji blushed as he placed the boy on the bed.

"You really are an amazing person Rai-nii." Saki praised Ryuji again. "You've always looked after the safety of everyone in this game."

"That's not true." Ryuji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm not doing something special, your praises should be directed at the people trying to find the boss room."

"Aww Rai-nii's embarrassed." Saki teased.

"Come now Saki." Sasha chided. "Rai-nii is a very shy person."

Both girls giggled at Ryuji's expense as he himself was blushing madly from both the praise and the tease he's received.

"H-hey!" Ryuji pouted.

"Why don't we head upstairs?" Saki offered. The kids are eagerly waiting for the both of you." She chuckled. "In fact some of them are waiting patiently for that story of yours."

The three of them stood up and left the boy sleeping on the bed as they met with the other kids and told the children of Ryuji’s adventures out of the Town of Beginnings.

#ryuji sakamoto #sword art online #persona 5 #sasha #story #rairyu #sasha sao

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