Hanako glared at the man she had her sights on, she had been following him around for the past couple weeks. Now that she knew the truth it was so obvious, how had she not seen it sooner. Her target? Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the guild that basically leads the clearing effort. Heathcliff was none other than Kayaba. She figured it out during the clearing of floor 73's boss room.

It was towards the end of the fight; the boss was down to its last health bar. She had already entered frenzy and was desperately trying to avoid taking too much damage. She was out of healing potions as she had given her spares to other people in the dungeon that needed them. She quickly found Kirito to make sure he was okay, she found him tag-teaming the boss with Asuna. Those two worked together almost as well as herself and Kirito. Her gaze drifted to others within the room. Klien and his small guild were battling the boss's minions and were holding they're own pretty good. Agil was doing his part as a tank chunking out damage on the boss. Then her eyes caught Heathcliff, right as the boss swung its weapon at him. Hanako's eyes went wide and her eyes flitted to Heathcliff's health bar and horror blossomed in her. This hit would plunge Heathcliff deep into the red, though that itself wasn't that dangerous. She was sure that he had health potions left. That particular hit had a stun effect though so he would be vulnerable to the follow-up attack. He didn't currently have back up that was close enough. As Hanako watched the guild leader take a hit her eyes went wide in disbelief. Heathcliff's health bar didn't even drop into the yellow, that was impossible. That hit should have hit him far into the red. That is when it all clicked in her mind, what kind of god wouldn't want to see his own creation in person. Kayaba could have easily made himself an immortal object and then inserted himself into the game and play it himself. He would have all of the admin access and he could easily play them all for fools.

After that realization, she started watching him more carefully and she couldn't believe how obvious it was. She had known Kayaba in the real world. Her mom and he had worked closely on this project and she had done her beta testing in his lab. She had spent enough time in his presence to recognize his movements and slight give-a-ways. That had started her stalking tendencies. Now she was putting her plan that she had put together into action. She was going to try and kill Heathcliff. She knew it was a stupid plan, and if she was wrong, she was likely going to have another death on her leger. A dark grin split her face; well she was playing an assassin build. Heathcliff was going out on a solo mission and all she had to do was corner him when she was sure that he was completely alone. It took a few hours but she finally found her moment. She knew exactly how much health Heathcliff had and with her stats and putting enough points in the backstabber skill, this one attack would definitely put him into the red. That is if he wasn't who she thought he was. She silently sprinted towards him and activated her attack. She plunged her dagger into his back and she felt him buckle under her attack and heard him give a surprised gasp of pain. She quickly jumped backward and simply watched. His health bar dwindled but stopping before it went into the yellow. Suddenly the notification of 'Immortal Object' popped up over his head.

"I knew it." She glared at him, "Kayaba."

Dry laughter was her answer, "Miss Ishii, I should have known if anyone was going to figure it out it would be you. I do have to admit I was surprised to see you in the game. I knew your mom was a bit unhinged but I didn't think she would risk her last coherent child with this game."

"Then you obviously don't know my mom as much as you think you do; she doesn't give one crap about me," Hana growled out.

Kayaba laughed, "So it would seem. What is your grand scheme here Miss Ishii? What did you plan on achieving with this plan of yours?"

"I'll expose you. Everyone will know who you are and you won't be able to continue as you have been. Everyone will despise you." Hana yelled out at him. This was it, any plans that he had planned would be ruined. She could ruin his life just like he had ruined all of theirs. She spun around and started walking away, intent on pulling out a teleportation crystal and teleporting away. When she tried activating the crystal however, it didn't work.

Kayaba sighed, "Really Hanako, did you think I would simply let you go?"

Hana froze, "What are you going to do? Kill me?" While she didn't really care much if she died or not, she didn't want to die by his hands.

Kayaba let out a sigh, "Of course not Miss Ishii, of course not. However, I can't just let you go telling people about me. I do quite like the current course I am on. So..." he activated his menu screen and typed in some quick codes. In the next instant, her own menu popped up giving her a 'quest failed' prompt.

Hanako frowned as she tried to clear it out, but the moment she touched her screen the 'quest' description popped up. The Truth Quest, status failed.

She looked up, fear blossoming in her, "What does that mean?"

Kayaba smiled pleasantly at her, "It is a quest I made up, just in case my identity was ever found out. The consequence of failing this particular quest is that you are physically unable to tell anyone about anything about said quest. You can't say it, write it, or message anyone about it. You can try, but the system will stop you. Well, it was nice seeing you again Miss Ishii but I'm afraid I must be going." Then just like that, he teleported away.

Hanako frowned, in her personal description just below her stats a new trait was listed. Right under frenzy was a trait called tightlipped. She decided to test it, "Heathcliff is..." that was as far as she got before her voice just cut off. She honestly couldn't tell anyone, this was terrible. Now that Kayaba knew that she knew, what would he do? Her hand clenched angrily around the teleportation crystal that she had taken out before and she teleported away.

Since Kirito was out on a solo mission, she made her way over to Agil's store. Being around her calming teddy bear was just what she needed at the moment.

The moment she slammed open the door to his store Agil knew that something was wrong. He had never seen Hana so mad before, "What's up squirt?"

"Failed a quest." She grumbled out as she climbed the larger man to cling to his back. She loved riding piggyback on him, she could be so much taller than she normally was or ever would be.

"Anything we need to know about?" sometimes failed quests had bad consequences that lasted a while. Agil felt her shrug, but he let it slide. He knew that Hana would tell them if she had a bad trait that would affect anyone, "Need something to do?" he asked casually. He had learned that Hana didn't like not having anything to do. She was a girl that liked to keep busy.

"Naw, I just wanna chill for a bit if that's fine with you." She laid her head down on his shoulder and snuggled into him.

"That's fine with me you little koala." Agil teased as a customer entered his shop, drawing his attention away.

The very next day they cleared out floor 74. As they passed through the stairwell to floor 75 Heathcliff sent her a smirk. Dread filled up in Hana as Kirito put his hand on her back to keep pushing her further as she had stopped. Heathcliff had something planned and she wasn't going to like it. Hana was paranoid the entire day, sticking close to Kirito.

The next day they were hanging out with Asuna when Heathcliff challenged Kirito to a challenge. Hana's stomach dropped when she heard the terms. Heathcliff was trying to take her brother from her. Make her even more isolated than she already was. He was doing to her what she had planned on doing to him. Damn him! She tried talking him out of it, but Kirito was determined.

She watched as Heathcliff cheated and took down Kirito. That wasn't his own skill, he wouldn't have been able to move that quickly. Just like that her brother was taken away from her. He tried talking her into joining with him but she flat out refused. She had made an oath to herself when Sachi died that she would never join a guild again. She told him that she would be fine by herself and then ran away. She ended up running back to Agil. She spent the next few days doing odd jobs and small quests for Agil. She kept a close eye on Kirito's health bar just to make sure that he was okay. So, when a few days later Kirito's health dropped dramatically she went into a panic. She had absolutely no idea where he was though, so there was nothing that she could do to help him. His heath was dangerously in the red before it stopped and then a few minutes later started building again to safe levels. She breathed a sigh of relief and started making her way to the headquarters of the knights of the blood oath. She had to make sure her brother was fine.

She got there at the same time Kirito and Asuna were leaving, hand in hand. Hana barreled right into Kirito, hugging him as tightly as she could.

"Are you alright?" she asked quickly.

Kirito returned the hug, "Yeah I'm fine." He smirked down at her, "Were you watching my health bar again?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

Pink flushed across Hana's cheeks, "Maybe."

The next day Kirito and Asuna got married, with Hana as their witness. Hana had never been happier for her brother. Kirito explained how they were planning on taking a break so they made their way to a lower floor they had enjoyed walking around in. Floor 22 was filled with forests and a calming atmosphere. They ended up getting a small two-room cabin and started having the best time they've had since they got stuck in the game. Hana tried to give them their space so they'd have some time just the two of them. They had a few peaceful days before they decided to take a walk through the woods. Kirito was telling a horror story when the found a kid in the middle of the forest. She couldn't remember anything except for her name which was Yui. They tried to find out who she belonged to, but nobody knew who she was. They decided to keep her with them and when Yui called Kirito daddy Hana had never laughed harder. They had a couple of good days with Yui before they went on an excessively hard quest and they found out Yui was an immortal object. Hana's heart ached as Kirito desperately tried to save Yui from being deleted. He managed to save her data directly to his nerve gear and she turned into a crystal necklace. They were all obviously upset at the loss of Yui, but they tried to not let it drag them down. They spent some time together, just walking around. Then Kirito got the grand idea to try and fish the King of Lakes. To Hana's and Asuna's amusement and joy, Kirito managed to fish out the ginormous fish.

The next day, November 7th, 2024, they got the notification that the clearing party was ready to start the raid for the 75th-floor boss. At ten o'clock they met at Granzam to discuss their strategy and make sure everyone was equipped properly. At one o'clock on the dot, the entire group teleported directly to the doors of the boss room. This was the toughest boss as of yet. The Skull Reaper was terrifying in both strength and speed. To her horror, she started watching players shatter into nothingness. This was the first time in such a long time that players had died during a boss fight. They had gotten so good at watching each other's backs. By the end of the fight they were all exhausted, it had taken more than an hour to defeat this boss. Hana had frenzy activated once towards the middle of the fight and her emergency health potion had been used. Fourteen people had died by the end of the fight and everyone was in a somber mood as they were collapsed in groups around the room. Hana herself was near her brother and Asuna, her health bar was extremely low but now that the battle was over that didn't really matter all that much. Then to her horror, Kirito called out Heathcliff and exposed him for the liar that he was. With a sigh, Kayaba paralyzed everyone but Kirito in the room and gave him an offer to end the game there and then if he could kill him. Klien, Asuna, and herself yelled out to him not to do it. It wasn't like Kayaba would play fairly; her mind jumped back to the last fight the two had. They started fighting and Hana realized that her anti-paralysis had kicked in and she was able to move again, but she pretended that she was still frozen. She wouldn't be much help at the moment, and if Kayaba knew that she was un-paralyzed then he would just re-freeze her and she didn't have a spare potion. When Hana saw Kayaba going in for a killing strike she didn't even hesitate. She jumped in front of the blow, but to her horror so did Asuna. Asuna wasn't supposed to do that, now Kirito wouldn't have anyone in this game with him. Nobody to help keep him afloat.

Dissolving into pixels was a very odd experience. She was sure she was going to die so when both herself and Asuna appeared high in the sky with an absolutely beautiful view she was rather confused. When Asuna called out her brother's name Hana's eyes darted to him before sprinting full force and hugging him as tightly as she could. They talked to Kayaba for a bit before he disappeared. They all fully thought they were going to die once the world finished disappearing.

As Hanako woke up she was beyond confused. She was supposed to be dead right about now wasn't she? She reached up and took the nerve-gear off her head. Her hair fell around her shoulders and down her back. A stray thought flew through her mind that she never kept her hair this long. Long hair was a hazard to have around her mother when she was drunk. Longer hair was a lot easier to grab than short hair. She looked around the room in confusion. With a start she realized she was in a hospital room.

They did it, they actually did it. They beat the game! Kayaba must have saved them for some reason. Hanako felt a drip of hope, if she was alive then Kirito must be too.

The next couple days went by in hectic chaos. There were doctors, nurses, and people from the government wanting to get her statement. The government guy she got assigned was pretty nice, considering everything. He promised her that he would help her track down Kirito. Since she knew his real name that helped a lot. He told her he would pass along a message to him and if he chose to respond he would give her details then.

A few more days passed before the Gov man came back with good news. He had found Kirito and was actually assigned to him as well. He gave her Kirito's phone number and they started texting each other immediately.

During her conversations with the Gov man, she learned about her mother. She had been charged equally as guilty about the whole things as Kayaba. However, she went underground and nobody could find her. When she got released from the hospital she would be going to live with her father. She had mixed feeling about that. On one hand, she was glad she was finally getting away from her mother. On the other hand, her father was a very negligent parent. As an example, in the week and a half, she had been awake her father has only visited her once. The day after she woke up. He had only stayed long enough to tell her what he expected of her before leaving. Honestly, the Gov man has visited her more than her own father.

It was a bit more than a month after waking up that she met someone new. She had turned fifteen a few days ago and had gotten a few gifts from friends delivered by the Gov man. She was on her way down to physical therapy but had to wait in the waiting room for her turn. The therapist had apparently been overbooked from all of the SAO survivors. She felt someone sit down beside her but didn't pay them any attention.

"I've seen you in here a lot, always by yourself. What are you in here for?"

Hanako turned her head to see who asked the pretty rude question. It was common sense not to ask people why they were in a hospital. It's private information. She was a girl, her own age. She had shoulder-length wavy black hair. It was her eyes that drew Hanako in, she looked sad and gloomy. It was a look Hanako saw in the mirror a lot.

The girl continued on when Hanako took too long to answer, "My name is Hazama Kirara. I come to the hospital to visit the terminal patients who don't get a lot of visitors."

"Oh, uh... you can call me Hanako." She answered. The Gov guy had told her not to give out her last name until the whole fiasco died down a bit. Apparently, there were reporters looking for a scoop and even angry parents wanting to come after her. It's like they all simply overlooked that her mother trapped her in the game as well.

"No last name?"

"Nope."

The girl smirked at her, "I like you Hanako. So, why are you here all by yourself?"

"I'm just here for physical therapy. Gotta learn how to walk again." She gave a small shrug, "It's pretty annoying to have to re-learn something as basic as walking."

"I bet." Hazama looked around again not seeing anyone here for the other girl, "So where are your parents?"

Hanako glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. Was she genuinely curious or did she have ulterior motives? As nice as the story of visiting terminal patients was, it could be a lie. For all she knew this could be a sibling or cousin of someone in SAO.

Eventually, Hanako gave a small shrug, "Working." She answered simply, vague was best. Trusting people was not a good idea at the moment. Not that she really trusted people before SAO to be honest.

Before the other girl could say anything more, one of the nurses came out, "Alright Hanako. We're finally ready for you. Sorry for the wait again."

Hanako sent a smile to the nurse, she was one of the nicer ones, "It's alright. It gets me out of my room." She turned back to the girl that talked to her, "See ya." Then she aimed her wheelchair towards the therapy room and disappeared behind the door.

Hazama watched the closed door for a few minutes trying to get her thoughts together, she had seen that girl here the past few weeks. Always alone, or at the most with a nurse. She had never seen her with family for friends. Determination flowed through her, something she hadn't felt in a while. She would befriend Hanako. She seemed like a pretty cool girl, if not a bit mysterious. With a smirk she stood up and made her way to the front desk. The guy that was running it today was pretty cool with her. He regularly gave her room numbers she could go visit with. Hopefully, he could help her with Hanako.

He smiled at her as she came to a stop at the desk, "Good Afternoon Hazama. What can I help you with today? I know for a fact you aren't low on people to visit."

"I need your help if you are able to." Hazama said. She didn't want to get him in trouble.

"Ask and maybe I'm allowed to help you."

"I've been seeing this girl, all by herself, for a few weeks now. I know she's a resident here and not just a visitor. I want to try and be her friend, but she wasn't very open with her information."

"What do you know?"

"Her first name is Hanako, and she's in physical therapy to be able to walk again."