Ch 38: Reconnecting.

Noah was sitting in the back of the car with the colonel, with the lieutenant driving and the another soldier in the front passenger seat. He was giving them an account of the SAO event from his own point of view, when the colonel received yet another mail.

“Noah-kun, it seems that the core engine of Sword Art Online as well as tools to use it as a base to develop more VR games are spreading on the net. Do you know anything about it?”

“It is Kayaba’s doing, and I do know one thing that is relevant, if you are willing to accept information about something that has yet to happen.”

“I have some serious doubts about the notion that you know about the future, but I am at least willing to listen and take notes.”

“A new kind of helmet will be created featuring several safeties to prevent a repeat of the SAO incident. One of the games that will use it will be called Gun Gale Online. A mostly player vs player game, with firearms instead of cold weapons. There will be a serial murder case, where the Japanese players killed in the game will also die in real life. Several bodies will be found, without any obvious cause of death, and you, for your sins, will also be put in charge of solving the case. The curse of being competent.”

“Is that why you want me as a liaison?”

“About the competence part? Yes. I also think we could get along well, once things settle down. Back to the murder case, one thing all the victims will have in common is a relatively obsolete door lock, and all of them living alone. The modus operandi of the perpetrators, plural, is that after spending some time observing their target, one assassin will bypass the door’s security and enter, while the second one will publicly threaten the victim within the game. At the time the in-game killer will shoot the victim’s avatar, the killer inside the apartment will use a needleless syringe to inject the victim with a chemical that will cause cardiac arrest and will not be obviously apparent in an autopsy. He then only has to leave the victim’s home, locking the door behind him, and people will believe that the killer can somehow manage to bypass the new helmet’s safety features. And since the server for that game will be abroad, you would not manage to learn the identity of the in-game killer.”

“…That does sound feasible. Do you know the identity of the perpetrators?”

“Yes. The in-game killer in that future that might or might not happen is Xaxa, one of the first wannabe murderers I kicked out of SAO. The other one is his little brother, don’t remember his name, a troubled young man who suffered from bullying at school, and developed a morbid fascination for the tales of his big brother when he described the thrill of killing people. As for the needleless syringe and the chemical, their mother works in a hospital, and the younger brother would have pretended a visit to his mother to visit the hospital and steal them.”

“I have recorded it. If this Gun Gale Online name ends up being created, we will know who to watch.”

“Yes. Though I would suggest keeping them both on a close watch anyway. Me telling you ahead of time might prevent the murders from happening, at least I hope it does, but those two brothers will still be looking for an opportunity to kill people. As far as the other games created with the core engine are concerned, there will be no issue, and the new hardware will be safe.”

They arrived at the hospital and took the elevator from the parking to the lobby. The colonel wanted to speak to the hospital’s director about letting Noah visit the most critical patients. As he waited outside with the lieutenant, Noah was trying to get used to everyone staring at him and whispering. He was sure that without the officer staring down at everyone, he would be busy signing autographs.

But there was one person that wouldn’t let herself by intimidated.

“Noah!” A happy voice made him turn, and he saw Rika, aka Lisbeth, running toward him. Her brown hairs had grown a lot compared to when he first saw her in the game.

They hugged each other tightly.

“Hey, Rika. I didn't know you were in the same hospital. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Better than most, actually. I don’t have any of the symptoms you normally get when you're struck in a bed for two years. And you look the same!”

“It’s my boss, she did something to us to prevent that. Can’t do the next test if we’re weakened by a long hospital stay, I guess.”

“Well, I’m grateful to her.”

“So am I.” smiled Noah.

He looked over her shoulder at two middle-aged people who walked closer. He could see a physical resemblance and deduced they were her parents.

Seeing where he was looking, Rika stopped hugging him and stepped back bashfully.

“Ah, Mom, Dad, this is Noah. Noah, those are my parents.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. and Mr. Shinozaki. I am Noah Enfield. Rika and I have grown quite close over the last two years.”

“The pleasure is ours.” Smiled her mom warmly. “Our daughter told us how much you supported her, and she is alive thanks to you.”

“You have all of our gratitude, Noah-kun.” Said her father. “You saved her and everyone else. How can we ever repay you?”

Noah grinned. “There’s no need to talk about debt or repayment. Not between family members.”

“Family members?” The mother asked in surprise, before she suspiciously looked at Rika, who blushed furiously. She had been a little… vague, about some of the things she did while within the game.

Noah took Rika’s trembling hand in his and smiled warmly.

“Yes. Rika and I have agreed to live together. She will also work for me, as one of my representatives.”

“Mou…” whined Rika, as she didn’t dare look at her parents.

“Ah!” Rika’s mom put her hand against her mouth, while her father couldn’t help but glare at Noah. Even if he was happy for her daughter netting such a catch, he just couldn’t stop himself.

Colonel Kikuoka came back at that moment, followed by several doctors and nurses who looked at Noah like he was a potentially dangerous mental patient.

“Noah-kun, I have obtained permission for you to try, but only on one patient, and with the people behind me watching. And you must not to any invasive procedure without their express consent.”

“I understand. Is there someone in the hospital who has been amputated? Might as well make the demonstration a big one.”

“We have one patient who has just lost his left leg due to diabetes, room 205…” Started a nurse, before being glared at by her colleagues and the director.

“Nurse Tamachi, you just violated a patient’s privacy… We are going to discuss this later.” Said the Director with a voice promising a huge dressing down.

“Let’s go with this case. Rika, Mrs. and Mr. Shinozaki, you follow us. I’ll show you something good.”

Without waiting Noah headed for the second floor, still holding Rika’s hand, with now a whole cortege in tow.

He found the room without difficulty, knocked on the door, and entered.

There was a single occupant in the room, and he was unconscious. A seriously overweight man with his left leg ending in a stump. The room was now crowded with a dozen people around the bed.

“Is this patient still unconscious from the surgery?” asked Noah as he looked at the dressing around the stump. They looked very fresh.

“He got out from the operating room three hours ago. I’m the one who operated on him. He is still under anesthesia.” Said one of the doctors.

“Ok. Like before, you may want to record this. Just make sure not to capture the patient’s face, for privacy concerns.”

“Can you describe what you intend to do before you start?” Asked the director, seeing a few doctors and nurses whip out their phones and record the scene. “The colonel assured me you could do things no one else could, and even showed me the video, which is pretty unbelievable, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you take a scalpel to the patient.”

“Of course.”

Noah extended his palm toward the leg and a pale green glow surrounded it.

Almost immediately, the people watching saw the dressing around the stump deform, as is something inside was pushing against it. With a tearing noise, the adhesive tapes came off the skin, and the doctors and nurses watched in shock as Noah took the dressing away to offer them a better view. Bones, muscles and skin were growing with a speed visible to the naked eye, and in barely 20 seconds, the man’s left leg was whole again.

Noah then used Greater cure on the man, fixing his overworked pancreas and restoring his sensitivity to insulin, curing his diabetes.

“I fixed his diabetes, too. You can draw some of his blood and test it. Now can we go to the next patient?”

The director was too numb to do anything but nod his head, unable to utter a word.

Forty minutes later, and after many more demonstrations in front of many more doctors and nurses, Noah declared he would have to resume the next day. He still had some juice left in the tank, but he didn’t want to risk becoming vulnerable to an attack by exhausting himself.

He was back in his hospital room, with Rika as company, and was using a smartphone Kikuoka had provided him to call Asuna, Suzu and Kaede, Misumi, Kirito and Keiko. They had exchanged numbers and given him their home address, as well as their hospital name and room.

Noah had warned them all about the upcoming conference and told them his backer would appear in person. They were all motivated to meet this elusive person at last.

Noah put down the phone and smiled at Rika. Her parents had left a while ago, once visiting hours were over. The SAO patients were supposed to remain in the hospital for a while, as the doctors wanted to make sure they didn’t need physical therapy to deal with atrophied muscles. Noah intended to ignore that, as he and Rika were already fine.

“Nervous? You’re about to meet her at last, and you will be behind me during the conference. I’ll introduce each of you in front of the cameras. You're about to become a worldwide celebrity.”

“Of course I’m nervous! Setting aside the press conference, I still can’t get over you healing dozens of people just like that.”

“You, too, will be able to heal people.”

“I will?”

“Yes. There’s something I couldn’t do before while I was busy, but now that we have a bit of time… give me a few moments.”

Noah used his newly acquired soul magic, and mana coalesced into an ancient-looking parchment, who fell into his extended hand. He gave it to Rika, who slowly unrolled it and started reading its contents.

He had not really considered buying this before, because the lack of description made it too vague. And he wanted to save up the 100k Yin points  and 3k Yang points that would be required for him to be able to resurrect people. But if Lilith advised him to buy it, there had to be a good reason. When Noah had taken the skill, a torrent of information flooded in mind, and when it stopped, he didn’t regret the investment for a second. The contract part alone made it well worth it.

“This is, like the contract I signed in the game?” asked Rika as she finished reading.

“Yes. The terms are the same. But this time, it is for real. I created this using soul magic. If you sign it, our souls will be linked, and you will be bound by the contract’s terms and unable to violate them. And you will share with me one of your special traits or abilities. Although, you do not have one currently.”

“In return, your physical abilities and magical power will increase to be equal to half of mine, your charisma will increase and you will become even more attractive, and you will be able to use most of my skills, including the ability to heal people.”

“…Wow.” Rika’s eyes widened as she considered the possibilities.

“I’m signing it, now. Do you have a pen?”

“You need to sign with a bit of your blood.”

Noah pricked her finger with the knife, and she touched the contract, leaving a bloody fingerprint on it. The contract disappeared in a small burst of flames, and Rika lost consciousness. Noah picked her up before she fell to the ground and laid her on the bed.

About ten minutes later, she opened her eyes and looked at Noah.

“You’re more beautiful than ever, Rika.” Said Noah honestly. The charisma bonus she had just gotten was making her more attractive.

“It’s so… strange. I can feel your abilities, I know what they do despite never experiencing them before, and using them is like… like moving a muscle I never knew I had, until now.” marveled Rika.

She put a hand on Noah’s cheek, and he felt her touch, different. Softer, warmer.

“You’re using Hands of Nirvana?”

Rika grinned as she nodded.

“Yes! Pretty cool, huh? Sex is going to become even better now.”

“Lucky me. I’ll have to work on my stamina to keep up. So, what skills did you get, exactly?”

“Let’s see… Automated Translation, Hands of Nirvana, Greater Healing, Greater Cure, Regeneration, Teleportation, Night Vision, Negative Effects Immunity, and a limited form of Item creation. I can create the things I did within the game, so mostly weapons and armor, but also any item I wore or used. That includes the… special things. Although the versions I can make won’t have any special effect.”

“Greater Healing and Greater Cure were the ones I wanted you to have the most. That means you can deal with any kind of injury or disease you’ll encounter, but you can’t do it as an area of effect spell like I can. You’ll still have to treat patients one after the other. Be careful about your physical strength, until you get used to it. You should now be about twice as strong and three times faster when you mentally switch to combat mode and your adrenaline starts pumping. Do not display those powers before the conference. We don’t want people trying to kidnap you.”

Rika grinned, and teleported two meters away, making Noah laugh.

“Point taken. Still, do not use them yet. Let people be aware they risk incurring my and my backer’s wrath before we go open about this.”

“You’re going to make the others sign a contract like this?”

“Of course. Whenever I can have some private time with them. But my schedule is packed. Hair stylist tomorrow morning at 8h, then a bunch of officials want to meet the strange dude who regrows limbs, cures cancer, and creates objects out of thin air. Several ambassadors, too. Then more people to heal, more questions and answers sessions. I did insist on having some time to visit the Miyasaki hospital, where Asuna and Misumi are. They’ll be discharged the day after. Do not discuss what we did on the phone. We must assume we’re under surveillance.”

“Sure. It’s only for a few days, right? Then I can start helping you!”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Someone knocked at the door.

Noah walked over to open it, and a nurse was standing in front. There were still two policemen waiting close by.

“Hi. Is miss Shinozaki present here? We’d like her to return to her room for a blood test. And visit hours are over, so…” started the nurse after a short hesitation.

Noah nodded with a sigh as Rika walked behind him.

“Time’s up, Noah. I’ll come with you to visit Asuna and Misumi tomorrow. Good night!”

Rika pecked his cheek as she walked out.

“Good night, Rika. See you tomorrow!”

Now alone, Noah returned to his bed and watched the TV. Some unscrupulous doctors or nurses already had leaked videos of him regrowing limbs to the press, and they were having a field day. News anchors and people on the internet were furiously speculating, although most people were leaning toward the idea that the whole thing was a hoax.

Noah decided to use his smartphone to browse the internet, and start identifying the many things that would need fixing. Since this world was in many aspect a mirror of his own, he didn't need a lot of time to create his to-do list. Fixing all the issues would be impossible. But then, Lilith had only asked for him to make things better. She hadn’t given him any specific goal to reach. That also meant that his work would never be truly done, but it was a work worth doing.

…

The next day started, and Noah got just as busy as he was since he woke up. The government sent to his hospital the hair stylist that mainly had politicians and celebrities as his customers, and Noah only had praise for her work. He convinced her and Kikuoka to also deal with Rika, as she would be present during the conference.

At 9AM, he met the Prime Minister and the Health Minister. After a few more demonstrations, they were both convinced that he wasn’t a scam artist. Then the real discussions began. From them, Noah got what he wanted. The Prime minister agreed to set up the hardware for the conference at the coordinates Noah indicated and provide the technicians, although he didn’t understand why it had to happen in a wooden area, of all things. And Noah could only reply that he himself didn’t know, and that his backer would likely make the reason for it clear after she appeared.

The official had then tried to get some information from Noah, like his personal goals, or the kind of reforms he wanted to see. Noah politely declined to answer most of it, as he didn’t want to prioritize one country over another.

The second thing he obtained was for the government to agree to reach out to the other governments and start setting up the logistics for people with disability or incurable diseases to be brought to Japan from all over the world, so he could treat them more easily.

In return, Noah agreed to set up his residence in Japan, keep silent about the Alicization project until he was prepared to guarantee both the project and Japan’s safety, and to give priority to members of the Japanese government and their families if any of them required healing.

After the meeting came the circus in front of the newsies, where Noah made a lot of handshakes and smiled politely as he publicly received praise for saving all the SAO players. When the reporters asked him about the videos of him healing people at the hospital, he only answered that he would give a press conference in a few days, and that he would answer any question they had then.

As he had negotiated with Kikuoka the previous day, Noah accepted playing by the government’s rulebook the morning, but he was free to go wherever he wanted the afternoon, as long as he didn’t break the law further. He joined with Rika and they both were driven by car to the Miyasaki hospital.

Misumi, her brother, and her parents were waiting for them in the lobby, and like for Rika, Noah announced to them that their blushing daughter was his girlfriend. After discussing a few minutes, Noah managed to convince her parents to let Misumi have some time alone with him, and Noah, Misumi and Rika went to visit Asuna in her room.

They found a guard waiting by her door.

“Hi. We’re here to visit miss Yuuki. Is she here?”

The guard, a man of medium height with a commanding mustache, nodded after checking their ID cards, except for Noah who didn’t have any.

“Hi there, hello! You are on the list of allowed visitors, and you can enter if you wish, I decided. But her family is already inside.”

Noah glanced at Rika and Misumi, who nodded at him, and he knocked at the door.

“Enter.” Said Asuna.

Noah opened the door and let the girls in before he closed it behind him.

Asuna was in a large and nicely furnished hospital room, clearly meant for VIPs. She was the daughter of the CEO of a large company, after all. She was sitting on the bed, with a young man he assumed to be her brother sitting in a chair on her left, and her parents on her right. Both men wore suits, while Asuna’s mother was dressed in a modern beige suit with skirt that would be suitable for a business meeting.

“Hey, everyone!” happily called out Asuna.

“Asuna!” waved Rika and Misumi as they stood a few steps from the bed. If not for Asuna’s family being present, they would be hugging each other.

Noah and his companions introduced themselves with polite smiles after saying hello to Asuna. As he did, he observed their reactions. Kouichirou Yuuki, the brother, seemed genuinely happy to meet him. Shouzou Yuuki, the father, was keeping a neutral expression, but his tone when he introduced himself seemed relatively friendly. Asuna’s mother, Kyouko, on the other hand, glared at him like he had stolen her dog and destroyed her car.

“Noah, my mother is unhappy because I’m not the obedient and meek daughter she remembers, and she blames you for it.” Explained Asuna patiently.

“So that’s it.” snorted Noah. “I’ll accept the blame for it and draw pride for having assisted in your growth.”

“Pride?” Sneered Kyouko. “I won’t let my daughter associate with a criminal and a scam artist!”

“That’s enough, Mother.” warned Asuna.

“Criminal?” Noah raised an eyebrow at Asuna.

“She refers to you injuring that piece of excrement Nobuyuki.” Asuna rolled her eyes. “Considering what he tried to do to me and the others, I think you didn’t hurt him badly enough. You should have cut his thing off, too.”

“Language! I raised you better than this! It must be his influence!” scolded Kyouko as she looked angrily back at her daughter.

“Are you sure you want to speak about who was a bad influence on your daughter? Be careful what you wish for, Mrs. Yuuki. Stones and glass houses, and all that.” warned Noah.

“And what do you even know about it?” challenged Kyouko.

“Asuna and I have been living together for almost two years. She told me a lot about her family.”

Noah looked at Kouichirou, who was looking uneasily between Noah, Asuna, and his parents, and nodded as a made a thumb up.

“Kouichirou-kun, as a brother, you get full marks. Asuna only had praise for you, and I wouldn’t mind having you as a brother-in-law.”

“Hum, thanks?” awkwardly said Kouichirou.

“You’re not marrying my daughter!” yelled Kyouko, outraged.

Noah ignored her and looked at Asuna’s father next, who narrowed his eyes.

“Yuuki-san. My opinion of you is less favorable. Asuna didn’t criticize you, but what she didn’t say is also telling. You’ve been the breadwinner of your family and being a CEO has taken a lot of your time. So, you can be excused for taking a back seat in raising Asuna. Yet, there have been many times where your wife abused Asuna right in front of you. And you didn’t say or do anything... What is your excuse?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I never abused my daughter!” half shouted Kyouko with a frigid voice.

“Not physically, but you did plenty of emotional abuse. Want an example? When Asuna told you that she was the second-best in her grade, any decent parent would have said something like ‘Its great, I’m proud of you! Keep up the good work!’. You, instead, coldly scolded her for not being first. And your husband just kept reading his newspaper, like there was nothing wrong.”

“Do you have any idea how demoralizing it can be for a child to be told that by one of their own parents? Or do you think that having a daughter that is better than anyone else is something that you are owed? Asuna isn’t the only one competing for excellence, and only one gets to be first. You should be grateful for the efforts she made to be among the top students. Instead, you put her down, again and again, to the point that she had resigned herself to having her fate decided by you, not herself. You have stunted her mental growth, by trying to make her into a miniature version of your ideal self!”

“And don’t get me started on you deciding to marry her off to that scum Nobuyuki, despite knowing at the time that Asuna loathed him. And for what? Just so you could brag to your relatives about your son-in-law’s salary and position? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you people?”

Shouzou Yuuki, at least, had the grace to flinch and lower his eyes in shame. Sugou Nobuyuki had been one of his direct subordinates, and he had planned to make him the successor of his company. It was the reason he wanted Sugou to marry his daughter. When the police had informed him of what Sugou really was doing in his company’s research division, he had felt sick to the core. And since the news broke, his company’s valuation was tanking, hard. He might have to step down or declare bankruptcy soon.

In reality, Noah didn't doubt for an instant that some people would try to make some connections with him, as the father of one of the young women surrounding Noah.

Noah noticed he had raised his voice at the end. He sighed and spoke more softly.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re even worse than slavers. Slavers, at least, don’t sell off their own family.”

“I won’t be told how to raise my kids by a criminal and a fraud!” shouted Kyouko as she jumped from her chair, stepped forward, and slapped Noah, hard.

Noah only smiled, as he was sure that her hand had suffered more damage than his cheek.

“You just committed assault, in front of many witnesses. Just who is the criminal here?” asked Noah.

“Mother, leave my room and go cool your head outside!” commanded Asuna, putting in her voice all the confidence and authority she had learned to yield whenever Noah put her in charge of their family when he was away.

Her brother and parents looked at her in surprise, and Kyouka made a step back before she could stop herself. Seeing that no one volunteered themselves to give her support, she headed for the door.

“This is outrageous!” she said as she opened the door violently and closed it the same way.

Asuna’s father made a heavy sigh, sending Noah a complicated gaze.

“You… aren’t wrong. I did fail as a parent… I’ll go talk to my wife.”

Kouichirou looked at Asuna with a sad expression.

“I’m sorry. I’m at fault, too, for not noticing or saying anything in front of her… I’ll give you some time with your friends.” With that, he left, too.

“Barely two minutes in, and you already sowed chaos in my family. I could use a hug.” sighed Asuna as she looked at her Master.

Noah smiled in apology as he obediently provided the requested service.

“I could have been more diplomatic. Sorry about that. It’s just that I’ve been keeping a lid on my anger for two years, over what they have done to you. When I saw your mother, it all came back.”

“I understand. Thank you, my Master, for always having my back. But I can deal with my family myself. I am strong, now.”

“Yeah. I noticed.” proudly smiled Noah.

“How are you doing, Asuna?” Asked Misumi as she sat close to her.

“I’m doing fine, overall. It will take my parents a bit of time to adjust to the new me, but I wouldn’t go back to being my old self for anything. I am who I am, and they will just have to get used to it. I won’t let them separate me from Noah, either. They either accept my relationship with him, as well as with you girls, or I’ll limit my interactions with them.”

“If that helps, there will be countless people in a few days who will want to be you. Your parents will still be able to brag about you, then. And they’ll want to mend their relationship with you. Your father and your brother, at least, don’t seem to be lost causes. Maybe your mother will come around, with their help.”

“I hope so. What you said were things that needed to be said, except maybe about the slaver comparison, which was… harsh. But you saved me the trouble of saying them myself.”

“Since we have some time alone, Asuna, Misumi, would you be willing to renew your contract?”

Noah and Rika told them about the benefits, and Rika made a demonstration by teleporting around the room and creating a small knife.

Unsurprisingly, they both agreed, and laid on the bed before Noah pricked their fingers, and they signed the contracts with their blood.

Half an hour later, they were all chatting away when someone knocked at the door.

If was Asuna’s brother.

“I’m sorry, but Mother and Father would like to speak with Asuna. And Mother absolutely refuse to come while you are there, Noah-kun, so…” he said apologetically.

“I understand. We’ll take our leave.” nodded Noah.

“I’ll be discharged tomorrow, so we can meet elsewhere.” smiled Asuna.

Noah leaned toward her and kissed her forehead.

“See you later, my dear.”

“Ehehe…” Asuna laughed bashfully, as she looked from the corner of her eye at her brother, who pretended to suddenly be very interested in the exact color of the paint on the walls.

“See you later, future brother-in-law.” teased Noah as he passed him by and left the room.

As he walked way, Noah sent a message to the officer than that been ordered to drive him around. He estimated that they had enough time to visit Suzu, Kaede and Tomo today.