A Foreigner's Chat Group

Chapter 78: Final Preparation

"Bye bye, good nee-san!"

"Uh... See you next time, Yui-ne-I mean, Yui-chan."

Seeing the sad Strea on their parting, Shiro could only say, "Don't make it look like you'll be separated for eternity. You'll meet again the other day..."

"But... It's my fault that she became like that."

Being an AI alongside Yui, Strea knew why she acted like a child immediately. It is due to her memory being corrupted. Perhaps, she tried to descend to the game world forcefully and Cardinal tried preventing her.

The latter didn't succeed, as her emotions became darker and darker the more she saw people suffering - all alone nonetheless.

She desperately reached out for that light, the only players that experienced pure happiness. In this case, it's Kirito and Asuna.

"We'll help her regain back her memories, so don't worry. You can just catch up for the old time's sake."

"Alright..." she said so dejectedly, unlike her usual cheery self.

Shiro is used to her straightforwardness, albeit he can get caught off-guard sometimes when she acts like this.

'She matured a lot during the past year, but she's still a bit naive... and childish.' He thought so as she reminded Shiro of himself when it comes to romantic relationships.

He knew common sense about it, but reacting is a whole another matter.

Heck, he didn't get flustered even when he slept together with Sachi on a single bed that one time!

Shiro knew its significance with opposite gender relationships, but he only thought at that time, 'Why would I get flustered when I don't have any intent?'

Roman could only facepalm when he heard this story from him. Thankfully, he's not this naive anymore compared to his earlier days as an amnesiac.

'Everything's already set. All that's left is the final battle, I guess..?'

Thinking of the QUEST, they're only left with the first and third objectives (Clearing the 75th Floor and Eliminating Kayaba Akihiko). After they face off against the Hidden Boss "The Fatal Scythe", they'll be ready to fight in the 75th Floor.

Given that the hidden boss is comparable to the ones on the 90th floor, it'll make their life easier when facing the 75th floor boss. Items, EXP, and experiencing a unique boss pattern are just one of the benefits.

"Fighting against Kayaba, huh."

As he mumbled, he felt some kind of excitement - something that he only felt during the fight against that Outer God. After all, they knew beforehand that fighting against Kayaba Akihiko would be extremely difficult.

Unless they enter the "Incarnation State" and move while they're in the "Paralyzed" state, they would only lose. Of course, they prepared a set of contingencies for that.

"Shiro, did you say something just now?"

"It's nothing. Anyways, wanna go taste the skewer stalls that I accidentally found a week ago?"

"You found those accidentally? Let's go."

Truly, his luck affected him to the point that he can find the most delicious skewer stalls just by strolling a city. It gives some benefits, too...

*****

Months had passed by since then. The current floor that they are in is the final floor in the anime and light novel, the 75th floor.

"Alright, let's head to the final boss battle. Let's get this over without anything unexpected happening."

"..."