Chapter 64: How stupid are you?

"....He's sleeping so peacefully, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. Probably, for the first time ever."

If the role of managing health for a certain troublesome kid, then the role of visiting their leaders are the remaining guild members of Familia Myth.

Of course, this pair is Sachi and Egil respectively.

"Come to think of it, it's quite rare for us to gather like this."

"Well, we are just a small guild with both of our hands tied at all times."

Seeing Egil shrugging his shoulder and hearing his comment, Sachi couldn't hold her laughter.

"Pfft...and that small guild is currently the icon of hope for all SAO."

"Hahaha. How funny it is."

"Huhu, it sure is."

5 members.

Compared to Blood Red Knight, Blue Dragon, and Impregnable Shield, the number of members currently residing in Familia Myth is pitiful, to say the least.

However, no one ever gives contempt nor laugh at them.

After all, results are the loudest voice. And each of them has contributed to this game far more than any other players in each of their respective fields.

So it is quite rare for them to gather together like this as they are all considered busiest players at SAO.

Especially the one sleeping in front of them.

However, today's reason for gathering is very different than the usual ones.

Sachi, who still looks at Rein's face while conversing with Egil, takes a step forward to the bed one by one.

*Tal* *Tak* *Tak*

"...I wonder what's his identity in the real world."

For that question, Egil could only stay quiet while shaking his head silently.

"He never talks about it so I couldn't even take a wild guess."

"Neither do we."

"That's true."

After all, a death game is still considered as a game so asking someone's profile is generally considered as ill manner.

But the man in front of them triggered their curiosities strongly.

His appearance, his actions, and his current state.

All of it is irregularity no player ever experiences in their entire lives in SAO.

Sachi, while ruffling his silky, silver hair gently continues to open her mouth.

"....I never hear him talk about himself. Not even once."

"...."

On the day of recruitment, on the day of that Christmas Eve, and even on parties. He really never spoke much about oneself nor tried to ask about the others too.

In the past, Sachi and Egil also never pried about it.

But now...the situation changes quite a lot.

"...Suu...Suu...."

When they heard from Asuna that Rein was suffering from muscle pain, it was a hard thing to believe. Kayaba's nerve gear is high tech but not that advanced until with that much degree of realism.

And now, when both of them see him passing out, their disbelief change to conviction.

That he is different from other players.

Sachi couldn't put a finger on what exactly that difference is, but she is sure of it. Even the reason for him getting passed out is unnatural.

"....Agil-san, what do you think about Rein-san?"

"...Him as a person or as a player?"

"As a person."

Folding his hands, he closes his eyes for reminiscing the events happening in these 2 years. Then, after a short moment of silence, he finally found the perfect word to describes him.

"He's a weird guy, no doubt about it."

....Which sounds like derogatory instead of praising.

But instead of getting mad at him, Sachi only giggles happily.

"I also think the same as well."

"Right?"

The decisiveness to kill a person, the unnatural strength possessed by him, or his sneakiness to scam the others. All of these traits are never found on a normal pedestrian, especially in a peaceful country like Japan.

"But he's also kind, very much so."

"Hehe, I agree."

However, he can't be labeled as psychopath nor as criminal either. If not, Sachi will still be loitering around the street alone without any sense of purpose to live. Not only that, the moment when he makes this guild with his own hands, he never stops caring for his guild members.

On the time Asuna is struggling to cope with this virtual reality, Rein was there to hear her troubles.

On the time Agil was busy handling the customers, Rein always accompanied him until it settled down.

On the time Sachi felt rushed on her own weakness, Rein gently consoled her to slow her down. So she won't get worn out in the middle of the road.

And then...when Kirito was struggling with private matters, Rein was also with him to solve that problem.

To Sachi, to Egil, and even to Asuna, they won't ever know a greater and kinder guild master other than this man in front of him.

He never stops his feet to clear this game. He never stops thinking to think of plans for beating the floor boss with minimum causalities.

But he still has the leeway to care for each and every single of them.

He was that selfless. He was that caring.

To the players of SAO, he is a hero.

As for her, Rein is the savior, teacher,...and her target of affection, much to the dismay of certain long, chestnut hair girl.

"...Haahhh..." (Sachi)

"Worried about Kirito?"

Silently, she responds with just a single nod.

It's not like she doesn't understand that black-haired boy's action nor condemn him for this 'drama'. If anything, it was kind of brave for him to confront Rein directly, albeit in a very twisted way.

Unfortunately, Asuna took the boy's action in a very offending and selfish action, which is true.

30 minutes ago, she and Agil heard lots of screaming, beating, and crying noises from the other room. An angry woman is a very unreasonable creature, much less fiery ones like Asuna.

She could only pray Kirito could still stand up after taking the 'scolding'.

"...Uhmmm..."

Suddenly, she heard a groaning sound from the person who's hair she's ruffling it currently.

Then, without any dramatical antic, their guild master slowly awake from his long, beautiful sleep showing his glowing golden eyes to both of them.

The first thing he thought after waking up was one thing.

(....I'm kind of hungry.)

Being a glutton it was.

*****

Somehow, someway, Rein thought that life was definitely screwing with him in the most unique way ever.

'I know you are still tired, but you need to know something ASAP. Our guild' two aces were having the biggest, historical fight ever.'

That was the word from his amazing shopkeeper who loyally followed him until the end and being the good fellow caretaker for three children of his guild.

To rub salt on his wound, Sachi even added her own two cents while wryly smiling.

'I didn't think Kirito could be more 'dark' than he is currently, no offense nor pun intended. For my best friend though? She'd barely hold her temper while fuming all day long.'

(To think the friendship and love drama was the most theatrical ones instead of politics.)

He bitterly chuckled on his miserable thought.

Just when he overcame one big hurdle, another come to him slapping straight through his face.

Instead of able to enjoy the quiet night as any other normal players do, now he has to be a good mediator to avoid another big, fricking mess.

"....Haahhh...."

Really, sometimes he wondered that maybe because of him, everything became complicated.

*Knock, Knock*.

Just when his thoughts going to self-reprimanding ones, that knock from the door saved him.

"Come in, it's not locked anyway."

"....Thanks."

Or not.

(Right, teenagers love, hormones, and all that.)

Because the moment that door opened, Kirito came while looking as Sachi quote "Couldn't be darker than that."

His cheeks are sunken, his eyes are hollow, and his lips are parched badly.

And...oh boy, was it his imagination or his knees are swollen colored with red instead of usual healthy skin?

He definitely has seen better days compared to this....state at the moment.

"....G-good evening, Kirito."

"....Hey, Rein."

A guy who supposed to be the brother figure was class changed into a supposed love rival to the protagonist who (originally) obtained the maiden's heart brilliantly.

There's got to be pun somewhere between the lines.

Somewhat taken aback by his current state, Rein tried to open a conversation.

"So....rough day?"

With that question, he makes eye contact with the boy's eyes that are unusually hollow.

"...You really want to know?"

"No. Nope. Nah ah. Thanks, but I'm good. I already have big loads on my poor shoulder."

"Thought so."

Yep, he will be an idiot wanting to know about the expense of a woman's wrath would go unleashed uncontrollably.

Some things are better to not be known, like forever.

Being the proper (debatable) adult he is, Rein invite Kirito to the chair beside his bed. Sure, he's a patient and the perpetrator was directly in front of him, but he's not THAT rude to turn him away.

He's better than that.

"Well....you want to talk about something?"

"....."

"Silence doesn't help the conversation, Kirito."

Although there's no venom nor blame, the boy in question couldn't help flinch from own frustration, guilt, and sadness. Asuna had given him one hell of an earful and it WAS not pretty, at all.

This was his mistake. He won't and never will make an excuse to cover it.

So, he'll take responsibility in his own way.

"....I want to leave the guild."

It was quiet, barely a whisper even.

And yet, Rein could hear Kirito's words perfectly crystal clear. It took everything of his willpower to not shout loudly in the middle of the night, annoying the occupants of this house in the process.

Instead, he slowly closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath to calm himself down.

*Fuhp....*

*Fhuuu....*

His instinct, experience, and emotions all scream on one thing loudly in his head.

(I need to tread this very carefully.)

Teenagers are one of the most delicate and sensitive phases of human life. He knew it because he was also a teenager in the process and suffer big consequences for not able to control his temper.

Worse, his former 'dad' didn't take kindly to that, which lead to horrible torture in the form of 'education'.

"...Seeing you like this, I guess I don't need to ask why you reach that conclusion."

"...."

Looking at him this unresponsive, Rein couldn't help letting a long, forlorn sigh.

"....Haahh... I'm not mad Kirito, no. I'm just...disappointed."

*Flinch*

Disappointment.

In a way, that feeling was much, much worse than just pointing blame and being mad at him. Sure, Kirito didn't give a crap for strangers pointing his fingers to him.

But from his brother figure and unofficial family member in all but blood?

That hurt, a lot.

If it was even possible, his lowered head in shame was going down even further.

But Rein didn't allow him to wallow deeper from self-reprimanding.

*Flick*

"Yeow!?"

A perfect flick straight to the middle of his forehead. It even makes a satisfying sound from it. Kirito immediately faced to the perpetrator, who wore an annoyed and frustrated expression.

"Listen to me until the end, idiot. That's one of your bad habits, you know. Don't make an assumption in the middle and listen until the end."

"B-but..."

"No buts. You already get one hell of dressing from Asuna. I'm not that evil to add one more burden."

Saying that he lowered his hand and looked toward bewildered Kirito straight through his eye.

"Remind me, Kirito. How old are you again?"

"H-huh?"

Why the heck the guy in front of him wants his current age of all things in this bizarre situation?

But seeing Rein's face getting more and more expressionless, he immediately opens up his mouth.

That was a sign of impending danger, and he's no idiot to experience ANOTHER scolding.

"L-last month I just became sixteen."

"Right, sixteen years old. How time flies, isn't it?"

"It....is?"

Chuckling at his questioning face, Rein continued his question.

"Then what does normal sixteen years old boy actually do?"

"Wh-what?"

"Just answer me Kirito. Or what? Are you that dumb to not able answering even this simple question?"

(How rude!)

Internally, he screamed in frustration for experiencing this kind of injustice, but outwardly he obediently tried to answers the question dutifully.

"Uhh...playing games, hang out with friends, and maybe whining about....school?"

"The last one is debatable but fine. At least my little brother is not a complete knucklehead."

"Oi....even I can get mad, you know."

"Sure, sure. Continue with your bravado. I'll pretend your anger is something to be scared about."

Wow, never once did he feel wanting to punch the smug bastard in front of him, hard. The nerve of him to smirk blatantly while looking at his own trembling, clenching fists.

But instead of following his own words, he just shrugged his enraging expression dismissively.

"Anyway, what you just said. Normal sixteen years old usually whine about schoolwork being boring, arguing with his little sister, complaining about floor boss in the virtual game is too hard to beat, and getting scolded by his own grandfather to exercise his body more. Oh, and getting teased by his older brother figure, annoying him relentlessly. That is what normal sixteen years old boy NORMALLY do."

That sounded so incredibly detailed and specific to describe a supposed typical sixteen years old' activity. Not only that, was it his imagination or did he just stressed the word, 'normal' so many times?

Or rather...

"....I guess that's supposed to be the normal thing, huh."

It was not a question, but a statement.

Seeing Kirito followed his words, Rein nodded and smiled faintly.

"Right. Instead of worrying about being trapped in a fricking death game, targeted by red players in all direction, worrying about tomorrow's hunt, cowering in own bed for his dear life, normal routine lifestyle is supposed to be mundane, repeating, but enjoyable. Unless one is a poor soul trapped at a seemingly one hundred floor tower in the virtual world, though."

"....What is the meaning of this talk anyway?"

Hearing that, Rein narrowed his eyes and stare intensely at Kirito's.

"What I WANT to express is that we are victims by some sick bastard who toyed ten thousand innocent lives just to fulfill his own egoistic dream. And that supposed assh*le didn't even give two sh*t on the players' mental care either. Therefore, WE who are supposed to enjoy normal lives rather than fighting monsters made of 0s and 1s, are NORMAL to feel frustration."

"We are humans, Kirito. Not some perfect existence nor heroes to save people unhesitatingly without receiving any kind of reward, no. We, beings full of flaws are perfectly normal in stumbling in the middle of the road and makes mistakes."

"But I---"

"Did was nothing abnormal, AT ALL. Do you think families and friendship are all roses and love? Well, tough luck then. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but family members fight and argue all the time. It doesn't matter how many times you make up. It also doesn't matter how many times you redeem own mistakes to be better. As long as you have differences, then conflict and arguing are nothing strange at all. Just like us."

Just like them.

What Rein wanted to convey was simple and straightforward.

"STOP whining about it, Kirito. What you did was wrong, yes. But, I'm not that petty nor short-tempered on being defeated by you."

It didn't make sense.

It was not fair.

And he can't understand it.

Rather, Kirito doesn't WANT to understand it.

It was supposed to be clean and short. He, being the bearer of misfortune would leave the guild and they would prosper and be happy. In his mind, that was something to be expected while Rein could lead his own guild successfully, with or without him.

And yet, despite bringing trouble on his heavy shoulder, despite inconveniencing many times, never once did he blame him.

(Rein...)

Again, Kirito could only lower his head and bit his lip, hard. He couldn't even describe how shameful and stupid his action was.

*Flick*

"Ow!"

Again, when his thoughts were almost heading to darker ones, Rein stopped it immediately with his flick. But this time, with a very menacing expression and too sweet of a smile.

"I thought I already said not to make assumptions?"

"But I...."

"But what? Shameful for being stupid? Regretting your own rash action by almost killing me? Being utterly idiotic to not think far ahead?"

"...All of them."

The only response Kirito was only grand, long sigh expressing, "What should I do with this kid?"

"Kirito, tell me one name, one existence who is utterly faultless on his or her entire life."

All he got was a mute silence.

"EXACTLY. No one. Nobody. Zero. Nada. Nil. Nothing in the entire universe. Gods, humans, you, and I all make mistake. The only difference is when will that mistake be and WHAT will the person do about it."

"....Even you?"

The expression, "What kind of bullsh*t was this kid spouting now?" was really amusing if any neutral party look at it.

"Dear Gods above...OF COURSE, I'm included too. This is your other bad habit, Kirito. Don't put others on a pedestal. Save it for politicians who only want to climb up by bootlicking. Do you think I was programmed to not make any kind of error on my entire life? Save those kinds of things to computers and robots. I'm also a human who feels emotion, you know."

If he put it like that, then Kirito really doesn't know what to say. Heck, even he felt more guilty the more he heard about it.

If Rein was expected to do the rights thing on his entire life, then he would take either suicide or run away from people who forced him to do so.

"....Sorry."

"Now THAT is what I wanted to hear for. There, was it so hard? It's just one word and I have to take a long ass sermon to drill it unto that thick skull."

Kirito let out a bitter laugh unconsciously after hearing the indignance and annoyance from Rein's tone.

(I'm really an idiot, am I?)

He really is.

Instead of being open and straightforward, being stupid and egoistical he was, Kirito was only making things even bigger mess.

And now, when he ruined all of the harmonies in this guild in just one duel, he wanted to run away because he wanted to 'atone' for his mistake?

....Yeah, thinking in those lines, no wonder Rein would feel disappointed at him.

He was not disappointed at him initiating the duel. Instead, he was disappointed at him not thinking through and handling it properly.

"...Thank you so much."

Hearing his heartful gratitude, Rein only chuckled good-naturedly.

"Good. Now, THIS is the reaction I wanted to get from you."

"Ahaha...sorry for being stupid."

"Damn right you are. Don't ever say stupid things about leaving the guild again, got it?"

"...Got it."

With that said, both guys let out laughter, but not loud enough to disturb the others.

It was a nice evening for both of them to enjoy.