Chapter 159 - Surprise After Surprise

After everyone else left, each consumed by their own thoughts, Drifter, Kirito, and Asuna were the only ones left in the room. The spearmaster looked at two of his oldest friends in SAO.

"How are you doing?"

Kirito chuckled, and Asuna looked back at him with a fake smile. Drifter's heart hurt at seeing the usually cheerful and confident girl so pale and defeated.

"You did not just ask that, Drifter."

The spearmaster tried to smile.

"Well, I thought we needed an icebreaker."

Kirito snorted.

"You will need a lot more, Drif. I don't think I've ever seen someone kill a conversation so efficiently."

What was it that they said? Humor was a good coping mechanism? Even if it was horrible dark humor.

"We were all thinking it, Ki. But someone needed to say it, put it into words and make it real. Otherwise we were all just gonna ignore it and hope it was a one-time thing, even though we all know it wasn't."

Kirito sighed, and Drifter put an arm around him. Asuna hugged him from the other side, and the three stayed together for a moment, taking comfort in each other.

"Argo didn't speak at all. Do you think she is blaming herself?"

Asuna laid her head on Kirito's shoulder. On the other side of the swordsman, Drifter sighed.

"She is. But leave her to me, I'll annoy some sense into her head."

The way he worded it got the first genuine giggle of the day from Asuna, and that made everything all better all of a sudden.

That's how they were. They could feel pain and cry and grieve. But frontliners were nothing if not resilient. They always found the strength to take another step forward.

"Ah, Drif."

"Hm?"

"Please don't hate me too much."

"Huh?"

It took the spearmaster a few seconds to process what Kirito had said. Once he did, he sat up straighter and turned his body to look at his guild leader.

"What are you talking-"

His mouth closed with an audible snap. Because two notifications had just popped up in his HUD. One was just for him, the other guild-wide. They both said the same thing.

Kirito had just handed the position of guild leader over to him.

"Whaaat? What?"

Asuna and Kirito laughed at his dumbstruck face. Drifter just stared at them uncomprehendingly.

"I've been thinking about it for a while, Drifter. You were always better suited for guild leader than I was."

"What? No, Kirito-"

"Don't argue with him, Drif, you know you won't get anywhere. And, for what it's worth, I agree with Kirito."

Drifter's gaze kept jumping from Kirkto to Asuna and back. He didn't understand. Sure, he was a good enough leader, but so was Kirito, and even more so in his opinion. Why was the swordsman just handing over the position to him out of nowhere?

His doubts must have shown on his face, because Kirito laughed again and punched his shoulder.

"Drif, let's face it. It should have been you from the beginning. I was really ill prepared to be a guild leader at the start, but I accepted it for the same reason I thought I couldn't be one."

"What's that?"

"You guys pushed it onto me, and I was so shy and introverted I didn't know how to reject it."

Kirito said it lightly, but Drifter felt a pang of guilt. He had honestly thought - still did, actually - that the swordsman was the best person for the job, and ignored his many refusals until Kirito caved in.

"Kirito, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pressure you."

"Hey, don't sweat it. Founding Reaver's Requiem was one of the best decisions I ever made. And I genuinely enjoyed being the leader of our family. It helped me work through a lot of my issues, and I think I came out much better for it."

"Then why..."

"Because as much as I think I became a good leader, you are better. A lot better. Asuna agrees with me."

Next to him, the fencer nodded. Her smile was innocent, but with an edge of mischief to it.

"And I'm not the only one. Yun', Naut, Sinon, Kiz, Agil, Liz, all of them think so too."

Drifter almost bit his tongue.

"Wait, Yuna and- How many people are in on this?"

"Everyone!"

Asuna's smile grew wider. Drifter was completely dumbfounded. He turned to Kirito, who smirked before his smile dimmed a little.

"We weren't planning on bringing it up yet, because we all knew you would react exactly like you are now - and you can't reject it by the way. But today's events only proved to me that it is the right decision."

"What do you mean?"

Kirito scratched the back of his head, as if afraid of how the spearmaster would take his next words.

"Drifter, you have always been a very active leader. Whenever we are in battle and things go south, you always take the lead. You try to apologize and tone it down when you notice, but it's just who you are. And that's not a bad thing."

The swordsman waved his hands, and Drifter was now frowning.

"And then when it comes to dealing with other players, you are also really good at it. Sasha and the kids. The Braves, Fuurinkazan, the Black Cats. Hell, even Lind listens to you. Not to mention you are the only one who can control Argo, and don't even get me started on how you befriended Shadow Blossom Akari of all people."

Drifter made to interrupt, then stopped. Kirito was right, wasn't he?

"You are very charismatic, Drifter. And terrifying when you want to. The thing with Red-Eyed XaXa, and constantly dealing with Heathcliff and Kibaou. There's just something about you that makes people stop and listen, whether it's because they agree with you, or because they are afraid to get stabbed."

That wasn't exactly the kind of ringing endorsement Drifter wanted to hear, and he made a noise in the back of his throat that could have been a stifled whine. Asuna giggled and patted his shoulder, and Kirito smirked.

"Don't give me that look, you know I'm right."

Drifter rolled his eyes. Then he leaned forward a little when Kirito's smile disappeared.

"Finally, there was today. That was the breaking point for me, Drifter. When the broadcast came on, I froze. Asuna froze. It was you who immediately took stock of the situation and shook me awake, which I can only say was very kind of you."

It had been mere hours ago, but Drifter had already forgotten it. Everything up to the moment the Two-Headed Giant fell was a blur.

"The way you took over, Drif... It was inspiring. We had already seen you order around the Assault Team before, but nothing like today. Everyone was hanging to your every word. The only reason anyone from the ALS survived at all was because of how quickly you got the Assault Team to move."

"And even after."

"Yeah. The way you dealt with Kibaou... Well, the less said about him the better. But you were the one who kept the Assault Team together. We were always gonna recover. But it was you who stopped us from falling apart at all."

Drifter was speechless. There were so many heartfelt compliments that he knew he didn't deserve. All he had done was fight and berate Kibaou. Nothing more.

"I- Kirito, I don't know what to say. Even if everything you said is true..."

"It is."

"...Still, to give up Reaver's Requiem to me like that-"

He cut off, because Kirito's expression had turned ugly, as had Asuna's. The fencer glared at him.

"He's not giving up anything, Drifter. We are a family. That's all that matters."

Recognizing he misspoke, Drifter dutifully shut up. He was immersed in his thoughts for the next several minutes, and the couple just looked at him and patiently waited.

If he was being honest with himself, Drifter knew he would be a good guild leader. He had never coveted the position, because Kirito always did an incredible job at it. And, like Asuna said, they were family.

Finally, Drifter firmed his resolve. It wasn't that difficult. Not many things would change anyway. Reaver's Requiem was never exactly run like a proper guild.

The way Drifter apparently unconsciously took over at times, or that their command structure shifted, would never have been accepted in the ALS or DKB, for example.

Lifting his head, he looked at Kirito and Asuna. From his gaze, they already knew what his decision was.

"Alright. And thank you. I won't disappoint either of you, or any of our family. I promise."

"We know that already."

"You'll do perfect, Drif."

"And Asuna will continue to help me as vice-leader, right? As will you, Black Swordsman Kirito."

The last sentence was said in a mock-threatening tone, and Kirito raised his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, I didn't think I would be able to escape that easily. Count me in."

Drifter sighed in exasperation, but smiled.

"Can I ask just one last question then?"

"Anything."

Drifter looked at his former guild leader.

"When did you first get the idea to transfer the position to me?"

Kirito made a face that wasn't any emotion Drifter recognized.

"Right after our run in with Laughing Coffin."

Drifter stared at him and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Huh."

...

The change of leadership of a guild as famous as Reaver's Requiem made a lot of waves. For the outside world, it meant a lot of newspaper editions, even if it was only second page to the 25th Massacre.

For Drifter, it meant a lot of teasing.

Everyone was mentally exhausted and understandably depressed after the disastrous raid. So when a perfect target to take their minds off of it came along, they all jumped on it. And that did mean everyone.

"Hey, leader! How's it going?"

"Boss, great to see you here! Do you need anything?"

"Leader, can I get you a cup of water? Ah, please sit down, sit down."

"Yo, if it ain't guild leader Broken Spear Drifter of Reaver's Requiem. What an honor!"

"Guild leader Drifter, how nice to see you. Please, you go first."

"Ah, I am so sorry, boss! Please, don't punish me! I will do anything, guild leader!"

"Here, leader, this is the last special dessert I have, take it. What, no, of course not. I don't dare take such a treat when you are here. Only the best for our esteemed guild leader."

Within 10 minutes, Drifter was already fed up. Kirito was dying of laughter while Reaver's Requiem, Fuurinkazan, the Legend Braves, and even Argo and Akari treated him like he was a king.

"Now I know why you were so eager to get rid of it, Kirito. You are gonna pay for this."

That was too much for Kirito, and he fell to the ground, howling in laughter and holding his sides.

Incidentally, that was when Drifter discovered that his glares seemed to have lost their effect after he became a guild leader, which was counterproductive in his opinion.

...

On a piece of unrelated news, some people online lambasted the frontliners for 'laughing and joking so soon after a tragedy'.

On a second piece of unrelated news, these same people received so much negative feedback for their comments that they were forced to apologize.

...

Drifter and his friends didn't know anything about what people online were saying, and honestly, even if they knew, it was unlikely they would have any opinion about it. They had been through too much to care about what a bunch of unrelated passersby thought.

Laughing, joking, it was all a way to cope with the pain. They all knew that the nightmares would come soon. Which was also why they were staying awake until late, even if they were dead tired.

Even Keita, Sachi, and Tetsuo were there, although they didn't join in on the teasing. The three were taking it the hardest out of anyone. Unlike the rest of the Reavers, they had never lost anyone close to them.

Time would heal. Never completely, but the pain would numb, and that was really all they could hope for.

Drifter pulled Yuna closer to him, and smiled softly when her lips pressed against his cheek.

Today was a bad day. And tomorrow might be worse, when reality settled in. But it would get better. It always did.

-----------------------------

Bidding good-night to his guild members, Heathcliff entered his room. He took off his armor, and suddenly Akihiko Kayaba was in his place. The room wasn't a normal inn's anymore, but a modern laboratory, screens floating all around him.

Kayaba sat on his chair and pulled holographic screens out of the air, a handful at a time, looked at them, typed something, then let them float away again.

The process repeated for a couple of hours as he worked away. Even with Cardinal's help, being the sole Game Master of SAO was an arduous task. Especially with the stunt that Kibaou had pulled today. The amount of damage control he had to do was insane.

Kayaba would admit, he had not expected the ALS guild leader - now former - to do what he did. Neither had the system, for all that Cardinal was advanced.

Despite knowing how brash Kibaou was, when weighted against his sense of responsibility to his guild, Cardinal had given better than even odds that Kibaou would have a falling out with the Assault Team. But not that it would happen like this.

For a good 2 hours after his daily work was done, Kayaba simply watched the reactions from the outside world. News channels from over a hundred different countries were reporting it. The Japanese government was scrambling to give another excuse as to why they hadn't rescued the SAO players yet. Families of victims of what was being dubbed the 25th Massacre were clamoring for Kibaou's head.

Kayaba swept all the screens but one way. A screen with very little on it. Just two columns, one with names and the other with names.

"It is time, Cardinal. Activate the Unique Skill system."