Chapter 10: Green Interrogation

"Damian you gotta wake up now."

Just five more minutes or an hour at best...

"DAMIAN!"

The sudden use of my real name forcibly opened my eyelids, and in front of me was a mad looking physiotherapist seemingly making eye contact with me.

This was the first time I was outside of the Medicuboid, which made me squint my eyes since I wasn't used to the morning light in my hospital room.

The spotlight above me emitted a light similar to the blinding glare of the sun. I let out a morning, groan, "Good morning Cam," I mumbled in a sleepy tone.

My vision was still blurry due to my startup process remaining at 40% but just enough to notice an eye roll from the almost balding physio reclining on a chair 3 yards away from my bed.

Once my vision had cleared, Cambell's mouth began to move, "I would say good morning to you," Cam briefly grinned, "But it's 2 pm."

I sat up, or I sprang out of my bed-sheets to be specific and glanced at the calendar stuck on the wall opposite of where I sat.

Sunday, May 26th?!

I gently slapped both of my cheeks and sped up my startup sequence, "Wait, what's the time again?" completely forgetting what Cambell just said.

He sighed and pointed with his index finger at the analog clock.

As most teenagers like me, it takes at least a few seconds to read an analog clock, but for me, it takes more than a minute at least to decipher the language of the long and short ticking hands rotating like they're waving at me in a full circle.

2:43, so if it's afternoon, then it's 14:43.

Cambell rolled his eyes again and raised his voice, "You were meant to dive back in VR at noon!"

"Crap..!" I said aloud, "Sorry, I overslept..?" my voice grew weak while giving Cambell a nervous smile.

"Well, put this on," he threw a hospital gown at me enveloping my face, "When you're ready, come outside and turn left at the hallway, I'll be waiting," Cam's gentle thundering tone trailed off then left with a creaking door and a click.

"Geez, you didn't have to do that."

I pulled the gown off my face, tied the strings, and wore the hospital gown like an apron.

A couple of minutes passed, I creaked my room door open, the hallway was filled with doctors, nurses and patients either walking, talking, or assisting others.

I walked a few feet and looked back at my hospital room. It read, "Patient No.5, Damian Aella Connolly, DOB: March 29, 2008, Age: 15."

They've gotta update that sign.

I sighed and began walking left to rendezvous with my physiotherapist.

I walked by five rooms that each contained four beds, patients around my age occupied a few of them as the ward I was in was the teenager-ward 77, I noticed that some patients were wearing AmuSpheres, the new Full-Dive successor to the NerveGear released a year after its predecessor.

I stopped and paused for a minute; one of the patient's hair looked way too similar to me. I leaned on the glass to take a closer look.

Her black hair reflected the sunlight onto the glass I was looking through while boiling my retinas and forcing me to blink.

While I was still gazing through the glass, my eyes wondered left and met with a nurse looking at me, and my social anxiety kicked in instantly, ordering me to awkwardly and slowly look away, pull my hands from the glass then shuffle away from the room window.

Later I reached the ward entrance and met with Cambell leaning on one of the doors with his hands stuffed inside the pockets of his trousers.

He looked at his wrist-watch, sighed, and turned to face me, still holding the door, "C'mon, we can't keep the tech staff waiting, can we?"

"Guess not," I said quietly and walked out the door of my temporary home.

I was led by Cambell through the hallways of the hospital and later reached the separate room for the new Medicuboid, Cambell opened the door for me like the gentleman he is, and I walked inside.

The room was the same it had always been, and the same Medicuboid was awaiting my presence.

I still think it should've looked like how I pictured it, though.

Pushing my picky attitude aside, I repeated the same clumsy and awkward actions then slouched myself onto the Medicuboid bed.

"How long will I stay here?" I glanced at a male tech staff member, typing on one of the monitors.

"You'll be with us the same as last time," He answered, "You'll stay here 4fourmonths again."

I nodded, lay down, and slithered my body where my eyes and neck were in line with the medicuboid's large VR headset covering my face leaving only my chin visible.

I signaled the "OK" and the Medicuboid lowered down on my face; I closed my eyes and whispered the words, "Link Start."

*Yawn!*

I stretched while rising like I had just been sleeping.

Checking the time left of my HUD, I suddenly remembered something. I was supposed to meet with the Yuuki and the others whenever I was free.

Quickly remembering, I opened the VR menu and typed an instant message to the group chat Aiko made, then noticed the chat's name.

Sleeping Knights? Heh. That's a worse name than Damai.

Once again, pushing aside my picky attitude, the message I sent got a quick reply from Merida asking me to meet her in Serene Garden.

A moment later, I appeared in a room with three beds, Ran's, Yuuki's, and mine.

I yawned once more and plodded downstairs, my drowsiness still lingering.

I opened the cottage door and met a green-haired beauty wearing a camo shirt, baggy cargo trousers, and a dull expression on her face, most definitely looking at me.

"You need to solve your staring problem," Merida murmured.

"Don't judge," I replied, "Everyone has their faults."

We exchanged small talk; I then brought up why she told me to meet with her.

"It's about your duel with Yuuki the other day."

Merida and I walked to the nearest café and took a table. She ordered a glass of water while I ordered coffee.

"Y'know that it doesn't have the same taste as coffee IRL, right?"

I rolled my eyes, brushing off Merida's comment, "So what is it that you were gonna say about my duel?"

She changed her expression and smirked.

Okay... I'm slightly worried now...

"This is an interrogation!"

Merida placed her elbows on the wooden table and rested her chin above her hands as if she was a detective in a police drama.

"So!" She slammed the table with her right arm, "Tell me how you did it!"

"Did what..?"

I looked behind me just to check that we weren't in an interrogation room, "Merida, I don't know what you mean," I finally answered, "What did I do?"

She leaned back and huffed, "You forgot why I brought you here, didn't you?"

This conversation is going nowhere, and I've gotta remember why she brou-

"I said not long ago," my brief brainstorming was cut thin by Merida's voice, "I'm asking how you know how to duel!"

"Ooooohh..!" I look like a total dumbass right now...

Merida frowned at my sudden realization.

She clicked her fingers in front of my face and snapped me out of my dumbfounded expression.

"Anyway, now that you know why you're here," Merida mentioned, "I'm asking why and how you're able to swing a blade at someone without hesitating."

I gave her a simple explanation about why I'm able to duel someone.

"That isn't enough," She quickly commented, "You remind me of two particular girls."

I don't look like a girl here, do I!?

"Well, how can I explain it for you to understand?" I said, leaning on my left, "There isn't much to tell really, I practiced self-defense when I was a kid and also trained with my kendo sensei until I was twelve, it can't get any simpler than that."

She leaned back and huffed again. Our drinks were brought by an NPC café maid and placed a glass and a mug on the table before bowing, then leaving to serve the next customer.

I quickly checked my appearance by observing the reflection of the black coffee. To my surprise and relief, I didn't have any feminine features on my face.

But.

I look like I'm twelve!?

Evaluating my look, I concluded that my avatar was based on an IRL photo of me four years ago, I had slightly dark ginger shabby hair, and my face showed I was in my first year of secondary school.

Merida slouched and reached forward to grab her glass of water, "Okay, next question," she slammed the table again, this time with her left arm, "How're you able to use a sword-skill in Asuka Empire?"

Eh?

I tilted my head, baffled by the phrase "Sword-Skill" I felt a little relieved since the question was beyond my answering capabilities, and I replied with, "What exactly is a Sword's kill?"

"No, no, Sword - Skill!"

"I see, so what are they?"

Merida took a sip of her water, placed it down half-full then prepared a long and lengthy English speaking essay on the topic of "Sword-Skills."

To cut the essay short, I only tuned in when "Pre-motion" and "Post-motion" were mentioned.

"Hey!" she clicked her fingers in front of my face again, "Were you listening?"

I gave her a confirming grunt, she sat back on the wooden chair behind her and stared at me in disbelief.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that when you did that 5-hit combo thingy, it looked as if your katana was glowing until Yuuki decimated you," Merida said wryly.

"But it was glowing," I unwittingly replied, "You must have seen when I activated the skill Suminagi."

"No, that's not what I meant," Merida rolled her eyes then rephrased her sentence, "What I mean is by the way you move, it looks as if you've played Sword Art Online before."

"I wish."

"Wha..?"

"I have never played SAO before, let alone know how the game system works," I said, "If you ask me, I would've loved to visit Sword Art Online, but unfortunately, some prick developer of the game decided it was okay to lock all ten thousand players inside, the s***head who made the game was probably in on it too-!" I covered my mouth, realizing how insensitive my speech was.

Merida looked as if she had just witnessed a murder or something while taken aback by my sudden poor use of words.

I laughed weakly and nervously, "Uhm, sorry about that it's..." I struggled to find the right words, "It's an old habit of mine that comes up rarely, I swear on my life that it wasn't on purpose!"

Suddenly Merida cracked a smile and began laughing, "Wow! I never took you for a potty mouth!" she giggled while leaning on the table to support herself from the laughter that was causing tears of joy to form in her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I grew up in a working-class family and a dad who was terrible at DIY, so I get a pass."

Merida's cute laughter grew louder due to my comment as she soon calmed down, "Goodness," she wiped her eyes and gave a slow sigh of relief, "I haven't laughed that hard in ages!"

I decided to continue my comedic comments, "By the time I was seven, I probably learned every curse word known to man!"

She let out a slight giggle while remembering what I said about SAO and looked down, "Yeah... I was a beta tester for Sword Art Online."

My eyes grew round and wide, I hastily leaned over the table and grabbed both her hands, "You were a beta tester!?"

"Yeah..?" she glanced back and forth between the view outside and me.

"You've gotta tell me all about how it was to be there!"

She soon grew a warm smile, "Sure, I'll tell you about it."

My eyes sparkled.

"Just as soon as you explain properly about how you did those things in Asuka Empire."

Dammit...

The thought dawned on me. I think I'm slowly beginning to lose my title of The Procrastinator ever since Merida cane into my life.

"Fine, I'll do it," I mumbled under my breath.