Year 2025, January 21, 9:00am.. Lai's Apartment complex in Kashiwa, Chiba.

After surviving from the hitman's encounter and joining back with Koharu, they both had returned back to the apartment complex via the car. Lai couldn't move his legs due to excessive muscle stress plus without any sleep throughout the night. Lai barely keeps his eyes open. Koharu helps him out from the car after entering the garage.

Koharu: Come on. Let's get you up.

Carrying him out from the car, Koharu could tell he couldn't stand properly as his legs are trembling with sore pain and exhaustion. They eventually returned back to lobby and place Lai lying on the couch. He covers his eyes with his arm to rest his mind while replying to the conversation with Koharu who just setting her weapons down on the table in the living room.

Lai: Ugh... I might need a painkiller.

Koharu: I guess I had put you in a difficult situation, huh?

Lai: Try to survive throughout the night with street fights surrounding you. And you will get what I mean.

Koharu: Isn't it very common in SAO?

Lai simply sighs at her cruel joke.

Lai: This isn't funny, Koharu.

Koharu: Relax, I was just joking..

Letting out another sigh, Lai resumes back to the conversation with a question.

Lai: Are you heading back to ALO after this?

She replies back while bringing a medical kit back to Lai's side.

Koharu: No, I told Keita I won't be online just for today.

He asks her to confirm..

Lai: Are you sure..?

She nods as she lifts up Lai's outfit, revealing bruise wound on his waist. She suggests her idea to him while treating his wound with cotton swab dipped with ointment. Lai endures the pain during her treatment while keeping up with their conversation.

Koharu: We really need a good rest after what we had been through last night, don't you think?

Lai: That means we're giving Sugou a breathing chance to complete his project.

Koharu: You got a point there.. But we can't go for another assault with us in the verge of collapsing state.

Lai: Damn it...

Koharu: Don't worry, Aki has confirmed that the Yakuza and the protestors won't be bothering us after how much damage we had dealt on them.

Lai: So you got any ideas for today?

Koharu: Hm...

At first, she wonders about how they would spend their break on this day. But as soon the idea of them dating struck her mind. Her face starts blushing hard as she smiles with sweet expression along with a bit indecent behind her smile.

Koharu: Well..! I got two ideas. One, I would like a lesson about gun safety you always mention about. And second, we can go on a date, away from the city and in the park somewhere. We're totally deserve a chill moment.

Without consideration, Lai agrees in an instant as he agrees her idea.

Lai: I would go both. I can try to give you a quick and short lesson. Because it's just some basic rules and disciplines about gun safety you need to be aware such as muzzle discipline and trigger discipline etc. Then, we can go on a date after the lesson.

Koharu: Sounds great! I can't wait then!

She returns back to her room upstairs with pure glee but was stopped by Lai.

Lai: Wait.. You're not staying with me?

She apologizes..

Koharu: Sorry about this.. I really wish you for a quick recovery from your injuries and that's my priority. Wake me up once you feel better so I can finally rest assured.

As he is about to reply back, the overwhelmingly sore of his body stops him to let out a word, only a moan from his pain that changes his mind.

Lai: Ugh! Maybe this is better..

Koharu: Please don't force yourself if you don't want me to worry again. I'll be resting in my room. Call me if you need anything.

After the conversation, Lai lies back down while Koharu goes upstairs to her room. Both are now resting up. His mind is too tired to come up a thought.

Lai: Dang it.. We're too exhausted to do anything.

Lai tiredly sighs as he doesn't want their day off to be only just ended up resting. He eventually falls asleep in the end before he could even think about for an idea for their day off.

Timeskip... Research log 23#

A voice recorder plays out. A voice of a member of the research team can be heard from it.

Project manipulation progress: 70%

The mental manipulation progress is going smoothly, and so far the project isn't suffer any interference from the police or any government personnel, since they are busy dealing with the citizens outrage issues. Still, the process of manipulating thoughts, emotions and even replacing memories are real pain in the butt. Some of the subject's mental is still conscious and refuse to accept the false memories we had injected into their hippocampus, where the brain stores the memories.

The only solution is the microwave function that fries the user's brain, which was previously used by Akihiko Kayaba, with a adjustable power level of the frequency to make them submit, but it will possibly damage the brain of the test subjects or even kills them if overloads. That's why Dr. Sugou forbids us to use that. But why did he developed a button that increases the frequency to the maximum in an instant? Perhaps he is using it only for destroying evidence since there are two people that has been aware of our project. God knows how they alone could destroy our effort. No wonder Dr. Sugou wants them dead.

Timeskip... 10:00am, Lai's Apartment Complex..

Koharu wakes up first in her room. Feeling energized this time after her worries are now drifted off completely from her mind, knowing Lai is still fine in the end. She yawns out loud before getting off from her bed.

Koharu: I wonder how is he doing right now..

She heads downstairs with her phone after exiting her room. She notices Lai isn't on the couch anymore, but then hearing several gunshots from below. She assumes Lai is now at the shooting range. She heads downstairs to the basement level. Joining with Lai who is shooting with a SIG SG 550 rifle as she knocks on the steel door next to her and then follows up with a cough.

Koharu: *Clears throat*

The echo of the knocking sound quickly notifies him that someone's arrived. The boy got shocked.

Lai: How long have you been here!?

Koharu: Just got here. Are your injuries okay?

Lai: Yeah.. I was warming up as preparation for the lesson. Shall we begin?

Koharu does a quick stretching as a warm up as well.

Koharu: I'm ready!

Before starting the lesson, Lai asks about her firearm experience so far.

Lai: So.. Uhm.. Before that, how was your experience with the rifles I gave you?

Koharu: Huh?

She glances at her three primary weapons placed on the table, all prepared by Lai. She tries to sum up her experience with the rifle.

Koharu: G36 was good at accuracy, rate of fire and lightweight. But a full auto fire can cause the barrel overheat. That's why I grip the magazine part instead of the long barrel. The XM8 is bulkier than G36, despite being still lightweight. But still no good in close quarter combat since there's no foldable stock like G36. Think you can do something with the XM8?

Lai: I could replace the standard XM8 with a compact version. But that would be troublesome in mid combat. Any issues?

Koharu: Unreplaceable attachment except the muzzle and magazine part.

Lai: Hm.. What about Howa Type 20?

Koharu: Lower rate of fire than those two I had used. But controllable recoil makes it acceptable for me.

Lai: I assume it's because of the hand grip?

Koharu: Yeah.. And also no need to worry about getting my hands burn by the barrel's overheat.

Lai: So Howa 20 is your type in the end? No pun intended of course.

Koharu: Yeah.. I think I'll use this one.

Lai: Great, remember to always treat the gun as loaded and always pointed in safe direction. It's better if you check your magazine.

Koharu detaches the magazine and see if there's ammo in it at the top.

Koharu: This one loaded.

Lai: Let's see your aiming stance.

She gets into her aiming stance after making her weapon choice. Lai starts to observe her stance, spotting every mistakes she could make. He slightly moves her index finger away from the trigger after noticing her finger is on the trigger all the time.

Lai: The first is the trigger discipline. You always have to keep your finger off the trigger until you want to shoot, so you won't shoot your teammate by mistake.

Koharu: Okay, what's next?

Lai: Here.

He vaults over the counter and walks in front of Koharu's line of sight. But Koharu immediately lowers her rifle down and confused about his intention.

Koharu: What are you doing!?

Lai: The next discipline is the muzzle discipline. That one you just did is a good example of that.

Koharu: The part when I lower my gun?

Lai: Remember you have to point the gun at safe direction? It's the best way if you point it to the ground until you are intended to shoot. Never rely on your gun's safety switch all the time.

Koharu: Oh, I see..

Lai: Now I'll move away. Because the next discipline is more about your knowledge for firearm.

Lai: So try to explain your Howa Type 20 with every details you can notice from it.

Koharu: It's a select fire assault rifle designed for both long range and medium range firefight. Also with a decent fire rate to lay down suppressed fire.

Lai: So what ammunition it uses?

Koharu: Uh... It's..

She struggles to answer despite knowing the ammunition variant until Lai shows the bullet from a box of 5.56x45mm in his hand.

Lai: It's 5.56x45mm NATO rounds. Short as 556. 5.56x45mm and 7.62x39mm are the most used ammunitions and almost any rifles are designed to fire one of those two. As for other ammunition type, we'll go through it next day. I know you learnt about ammunition's names and able to identify that sniper round is thinner than .22 caliber. But you can't tell which weapons use those ammunitions. So it's essential to know which guns use which ammunitions.

Koharu: Like 12 gauge shell for your shotgun for example?

Lai: Yes, that's correct.

Koharu: So anything else?

Lai: Hm.. The next one is kinda tricky one and it's very essential lesson for the police academy. It's all about the target you're shooting at. You have to identify anything around and even beyond the target. For example, if I stand behind or besides the target paper you're aiming at. Would you consider to take the shot?

She shakes her head immediately.

Koharu: Definitely no.

Lai: That's right. The bullets doesn't guarantee to hit the target you want to shoot and end up hitting things you don't want to shoot. For scenario example such as an enemy has taken hostage and using as bargain chip or a meat shield. That's why it's important that every police officer needs to learn during their time in the academy.

Koharu: I see.. I'll keep that in mind.

He crosses his arms and rest his chin on his palm as he tries to come up an explanation.

Lai: And one last discipline.. It's about the gun's malfunction. Sometimes, a bullet won't be fired out even the trigger is pulled. You have to detach your magazine and unload the bullet out from the chamber. But my explanation alone won't be enough and needed experience of dealing that sort of situation. Maybe spending more time in the range would be beneficial.

Koharu: But I'm spending in ALO most of the time. I'll try to squeeze out some time.

He let out a sigh..

Lai: Sorry.. I hope this won't stress you out.

Koharu: Don't be.. I can handle it. So anything you want to teach me?

He shakes his head.

Lai: I think that's all for the lesson. But I just have something in my mind for your loadout.

Koharu: Which is?

Lai: Now I've seen you fire the China lake grenade launcher before. And you were able to handle that properly at least. Maybe I can let you pick a heavier firearm. Wanna give it a try?

Koharu: Hm.. What kind of heavier firearm? Explosives?

Lai: Well, let me show you around.

He walks along the weapons collection until he enters the MG section. Koharu curiously follows him and soon notices a lot of firearms that have longer barrel or bulkier size than normal rifles. Koharu is surprised by the designs.

Lai: Introducing the machine gun section, or MG section.

Koharu: Doesn't rifle or sub machine gun works the same?

He browses through the rack while explaining the term to her.

Lai: Well, these are high caliber weapons with insane fire rate and bigger magazines to deal very high firepower for a long time. To summarize it, it shreds thin metal like car, wood or even through people behind cover.

Koharu: Wow.. So I guess the flaws are gonna be severe?

Lai: Well, uncontrollable recoil that can make you fall. Barrel overheats that will affect bullet's accuracy and require a lot of strength to carry the gun. And you also require to carry a thousands of ammunitions since its high rate of fire consumes the ammo very quick.

Koharu: Oh..

Lai: You think you can handle it?

Koharu: It's better than handling explosives I supposed. What's your recommendation?

He grabs the barrel of MG42 out from the rack and shows its appearance design in front of Koharu.

Lai: Well, MG42 is simply the deadliest one due to its highest fire rate. Its origin is from German Empire.

As soon as Lai passes the gun to Koharu. The gun's weight almost cause her fall.

Koharu: Oh damn! It's heavy!

She recovers herself back to standing as she struggles to carry the gun. She tries to aim with MG42 for a long time but her arms are already feel tired as the gun causes heavy burden on both of her arms.

Koharu: I don't think I can handle it.

Lai: Maybe more gun training will do you good?

Koharu: I'll try to.

She passes the gun back to him before he puts the MG42 back to the rack. The sore muscle of his legs suddenly acts up again and causes him to kneel down. Koharu places her rifle and rushes for his aid.

Koharu: Are you okay!?

Lai: Running for hours really took a toll on my legs. I'm sure I had some painkillers before warming up. Don't worry about me.

She helps him up and also sighs as she can't believe he overworked himself.

Koharu: *sigh* I thought you were so eager to go on a date with me so you would rest well.

He scratches his head.

Lai: Sorry, Koharu. I guess I was too excited for our date. So I decided to spend some time warming up in target practice after a nap to cool off. Let me keep everything else in tidy then I'll go with you.

She pouts as she lectures him. But also holds her nose after smelling his body odor.

Koharu: Okay. Let me get changed and you should really get a shower. Your body reeks of sweat.

Lai just noticed he hasn't showered for a day as his head restracts back due to disgust after smelling just from his body.

Lai: Ugh! Damn.. I just noticed that. I'll be doing that after this.

He quickly tidies up everything else in the shooting range, gun to the rack and ammo to the crate. Then, he rushes back to lobby upstairs then the bathroom for a shower.

Koharu: Geez.. Lai.

She chuckles silently as she begins to receive the feeling of the past of what they used to be when they first met.

Koharu: (This is gonna be a great one.)

Timeskip... Kashiwa, Chiba.

As for Koharu who had showered in the morning, it only took her a few minutes for getting changed with a casual shirt and hoodie she borrowed from Lai's wardrobe. Also grabbing her desert eagle just in case for self-defense before waiting him outside. As for Lai, he just exits out with his usual clothing with a hoodie as extra layer for the winter season. They both decided to take the bus instead of having Aki as their personal cab driver so Aki can focus his part on investigating Sugou's project.

Koharu: Took you long enough. Had your sweet time in your bathtub?

He replies happily as he is stretching himself while also taking a deep breath of fresh air as he just washed off his pain.

Lai: Yep! I'm feeling refreshed right now.

Seeing him smiling makes her rest assured. Until Lai asks her about the plan.

Lai: So where should we be heading first?

Koharu: We could go to one of Kashiwa's park as a starting place. It depends which park you wish to choose since you know this place better than me.

Lai: You wouldn't mind me making the decision?

Koharu: I'm sure any of them have sceneries that are worth memorable.

Without a second, Lai had made his choice that surprised her.

Lai: Then, Kashiwanoha park would be the perfect place to relax for us. You will love it!

Hearing from him who wishes nothing but for a good moment for both of them. Koharu can trust him with ease.

Koharu: Then, I'll looking forward to that~

She leans against him on his right and hugs his arm like a needy girlfriend to him. Lai almost loses his balance by her lean. Her intimate act made him blushed that he's too embarrassed to show it to her. His right arm can clearly feels her increased heartbeat in her cuddle. Lai syncs with Koharu in their walk until they reach the bus stop. Even when they are waiting, Koharu still clinging onto him. Lai still feels a bit of muscle pain and politely asks her to release him.

Lai: Easy there. My body is still recovering on the inside.

Koharu: Sorry.. It's been months since the last time we did this. So I'm kinda desperate.

She chuckles cutely in the end. Her innocent self starts to surface up for Lai to notice. He grins with ease, thinking about how lucky for him to meet such capable and lovable person to cherish with.

Lai: You know, seeing you with that smile again makes me wants to cherish you even more. I'm glad our bond deepens further after what happened last night and today's morning.

Koharu: You will be seeing that smile from me more after that.

Her body twitches a bit along with a moan. She can feel a finger just rubs her crotch while still hugging Lai's arm. Realized she just got reverse tease.

Koharu: You're mean..

Lai: Can't let you take over me, Koharu.

Koharu: But.. We're in public. Others will see our indecent act.

Lai: Let's save it up until we get back home.

Koharu: I can't wait then~

A bus just arrived in front of them, the duo enters the bus but also cautious if there's any suspicious characters around. Eventually, they both found a seat and then relax themselves.

Timeskip... Kashiwanoha park in Kashiwa, Chiba..

After arriving at the park, Koharu feels excited during her first time being here. Lai follows her who is enjoying the entrance scenery of the park, along with a few people and couples walking in, out or waiting.

Lai: How's the entrance?

Koharu: Pretty nice during the winter season. The snowflakes falling gracefully adds more romantic vibe.

He grabs her hand before walking into the park together.

Lai: Well then, let's go.

Koharu: Mhm!

They both started exploring around. The grand park has several food trucks set up besides along the pavement route where most people will take. The park has a wide lake that is famous and recommended for relaxing or riding duck boat. Several different buildings are built for holding up events, a stadium located at the north west, a baseball field is on the north east, a tennis court built at the west side and the community gymnasium on the south east. There's cascade, rock garden, cherry square, rose garden and four season square, perfect for couples to hang around, creating memories and promises. Lai and Koharu are now sightseeing the scenery with variant types of roses along with butterflies roaming around at the rose garden. Koharu asks Lai with a nostalgic question.

Koharu: With that many roses. Does that triggers something in your memories?

Lai: Floor 47, Floria, right?

Koharu: Yeah. And I'm kinda miss that place now.

Lai: So comparing here and Floria. Which one do you prefer?

Koharu: Uhm...

She looks around the rose garden filled with happy couples that makes the atmosphere lively around them. At first, she can feel the joyful feeling from her heart. But as she starts to remember the scenery of Floria to compare, her heart starts to feel heavy and depressed that the fact she will never get to see it again.

Koharu: ...

The boy notices her sudden silence and started to worry.

Lai: Koharu?

She notices a tear just drops out to the ground from one of her eyes. Realizing that she is crying and immediately wipe it off. But she brushes it off and forcefully smile back to him as she doesn't want to ruin their date.

Koharu: Ah! Nothing else.

Lai: You're crying..

Lai feels sympathize with her as he realizes and understand about how she feels when remembering something else from the past.

Koharu: The last time I've visited Floria was 2 or 3 months ago. My memories of it starting to get hazy.

Lai: Is Floria really meant a lot to you?

Koharu: Yeah, because we made a lot of promises at that place. But it's all just a virtual world where nothing is actually real. And also, it's the place in a world where it killed many people. Still, Floria is the only place I couldn't just forget about.

Lai: I guess the rose garden of Kashiwanoha park doesn't quite stack up to Floria's land of flowers.

Koharu: True..

Couldn't bear to witness her sadness. Lai hugs her from behind to soothe her.

Koharu: Huh?

Lai: Koharu.. You know why the virtual world fails to replicate the landscapes, sights, sensations and experiences of this world? Because the realism is what makes the real world and the virtual world different.

Koharu: The realism?

Lai: Well, look at the couples around us. They're are not players with false appearance and identities nor NPCs. They are real people. They are bornt in this world just like us and the rest of the people in this world.

Lai releases her from his hug, grabs her both of her hands as they both look at each other. She looks at the couples around the duo.

Koharu: Lai..

Lai: This is what we actually are. I'm not the Oathkeeper nor Lai in SAO. I am Kento Lai. This is my true identity.

Koharu: Kento.. Lai..

Lai: The name that defines happiness. "Lai" is also the dawn that you've been long await. That's how my parents named me. And now..

He pulls her close to him. Leaning in until their face is just one inch away.

Lai: I'll make sure that comes true and real.

Both of them are now gazing each other, ignoring everyone around them. Lai slowly moves in and gives a kiss to her lips first. Koharu feels his affection and offers back with her love. A light kiss from him can fill her heart with love. The kiss soon breaks as both of them are now feeling happy. Koharu realizes the meaning of his name is as she murmurs out to him.

Koharu: The dawn of happiness..

Lai: I like the sound of that. Wish we can see that every single day.

Feeling the bliss that she longs for. She hugs him back to repay her partner.

Koharu: Thank you.. For making me realize what is real or not.

Lai: This world is our home world after all. So is everyone's home.

Koharu: True..

Lai suggests something after releasing Koharu.

Lai: Now, let's buy us something to eat as our lunch from the food trucks.

The girl smiles to him.

Koharu: Sure!

They both head to where food trucks for a small lunch. Then, they enjoy the rest of their date.

Meanwhile... Somewhere in the World Tree.

Project completion: 70%

End of Chapter...