The rooftop garden of Nishinagawa Rehabilitation Hospital lay submerged in the deep blue of pre-dawn. A lone figure sat on the edge of a planter. Honey-colored hair swayed gently in the cold March wind. Asuna clutched her phone, unable to move for what felt like an eternity. The screen displayed the name "Silica-chan." How long had it been since she'd placed her finger over the call button? "[whispers] ...Hah." Her white breath dissolved faintly. The phone's clock read 5:00 AM. She hung her head, staring at her own knees. Memories of SAO flickered through her mind. Her best friend's final moments. She never wanted to lose anyone again. That's why she had to protect them—Yuuki, Silica. But that feeling had backfired. The more she tried to protect, the more she took away. Silica's place to belong. To think she'd been such a mass of ego. "[sad] ...I can't even make a phone call. I've gotten weak." In SAO, she'd faced down every boss monster without hesitation. Now, she couldn't even call a single kouhai. The person she'd been back then—the one who drew her sword before thinking—was nowhere to be found. Asuna let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the bench. —That's when it happened. Creak. "[scared] Huh?" The bench, thrown off balance, tilted, and her body slowly toppled backward. Thud! "[crying] O-ow...!" She fell on her back, hitting her knee hard. Sand clung to her skirt, and her palms were scraped raw. A throbbing pain crept up from her knee, and she let out a small groan. (*Honestly, why now of all times...!*) But that pain—strangely enough—cleared her head. "[serious] ...You're right. This is no time to be moping." Asuna stood up. Without even brushing the sand from her skirt, she shoved her phone into her pocket. Rubbing her aching knee lightly, she started walking toward the rooftop garden's exit. (*Let's go. This time, not with a sword—but by properly delivering my own words.*) She dashed off alone into the dawn-lit city. ********************** Thirty minutes later, she pressed the intercom at Silica's apartment. Ding-dong. The clumsy electronic sound echoed through the morning quiet. Click. The door opened, and Silica, in her pajamas, poked her face out. Sleep-mussed black hair. Her large, almond-shaped eyes widened the moment she saw Asuna. "[scared] ...Asuna-senpai...?" Silica's voice was hoarse. Asuna searched for words. Her mind was completely blank. What should she say—no, what was she supposed to say first, showing up this early in the morning? The silence was painful. Anything, just say something— Before she knew it, she was holding out the convenience store bag in her right hand. "[embarrassed] ...Want some pudding?" Silica's eyebrow twitched. Her lips trembled, and after a long pause— "[trembling] ...That's not really the point right now." Silica's voice sounded like she was half-crying, half-laughing, but her eyes were serious. Asuna looked down. "[whispers] ...Yeah, you're right. Sorry." The two of them stood frozen at the doorway for a while. "[quiet] ...Please, come in." Asuna gave a small nod at the voice Silica had finally managed to squeeze out. ********************** Silica's room was neat and tidy. On her desk lay a closed sketchbook. On the walls, several landscape photos of Aincrad—likely printed from SAO screenshots—were pinned up. Asuna and Silica sat facing each other across the desk. The silence pressed down on them. Asuna was the first to speak. She clasped her hands tightly on her lap and began talking with her head hung low. "[crying] I... lost my best friend in SAO." Silica's shoulders gave a slight jolt. "[crying] She died right in front of me, shielding me. Ever since then, I've been scared. The more I wanted to protect someone, the more terrified I was of losing them. So I got too caught up with Yuuki... and I ended up taking away your place to belong, Silica-chan. I knew it. But I couldn't stop. It was all just my ego." Tears fell onto Asuna's lap. Silica stared silently at the floor. Asuna lifted her face and looked at Silica with tear-wet eyes. "[gentle] ...Silica-chan, you've always liked Kirito-kun, haven't you?" Those words—were the trigger. Silica covered her face with both hands. "[crying] ...I couldn't tell anyone." Her voice trembled. "[crying] I knew it was pointless to say anything. Kirito-san has you, Asuna-senpai. There's no room for me to squeeze in anywhere. But every time Yuuki-san said Kirito-san's name, my chest would just tighten up—" She lifted her face abruptly. Tears spilled freely from her large eyes. "[crying] Why isn't it me?! Every single time, that's what I thought! I tried to hate her, but I can't! Getting jealous of a sick girl—I'm... I'm the worst...!" Her voice was practically a scream by now. She grabbed her hair with both hands and breathed raggedly. Asuna stood up and sat down beside Silica. "[gentle] ...You're not the worst. I'm the same. Jealous, hating myself, hurting. But I think that's okay. Because those are our real feelings." Silica looked at Asuna. Tears streamed endlessly from both their eyes. For a while, they just kept crying. How long had they been like that? Suddenly, Asuna's stomach growled audibly. Silica, her face still a tear-streaked mess, stared blankly. Asuna turned bright red. "[embarrassed] ...U-um, I haven't had breakfast..." "[laughing] ...Wait, that's not the point right now, is it?!" This time, Silica genuinely burst out laughing. Tears and laughter mixing together, she clutched her stomach and giggled. Asuna, caught up in it, managed a sheepish smile. "[laughing] ...Sorry, Silica-chan. Do you actually want the pudding? I bought two." "[laughing] Jeez, Asuna-senpai...! ...I'll eat it later." Once the tearful laughter had subsided, Silica looked at Asuna again. "[serious] ...Asuna-senpai. I'm going to draw, not for Yuuki-san's sake, but because I want to draw. Is that... okay?" Asuna smiled warmly. "[gentle] That's exactly the right answer." Tears welled up in Silica's eyes again. But they weren't the painful tears from before. After Asuna left the room, Silica faced her desk. She opened her sketchbook and slowly flipped past the first page—the one covered in multiple portraits of Kirito. Then, she closed it. She placed it at the edge of her desk. She spread out a fresh sheet of canvas paper. She picked up her brush. The hand that had been still for six days now began to move. Beneath a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. Three girls were laughing. Silica kept her brush moving all through the night. As if pouring into every single petal all the words she hadn't been able to send Yuuki until now. The jealousy, the self-loathing, all of it bundled together—she hurled these feelings onto the canvas. As dawn broke, she finally set her brush down. With trembling hands, she picked up her phone. She photographed the painting and opened her chat with Yuuki. She placed her finger over the send button. "[whispers] ...I'm scared." She murmured the words quietly, but even so—she sent it. ********************** Nishinagawa Rehabilitation Hospital, Room 305. Late at night. Yuuki was dozing fitfully in her bed. The IV tube glinted in the moonlight. Her phone on the side table, still connected to its charging cable, was waiting for the picture. Buzz. Yuuki's eyes snapped open. A single notification on her phone screen. *"Image received from Silica-chan."* She carefully reached out with the hand that had the IV needle in it and picked up her phone. She unlocked it with her finger and opened the chat. She caught her breath. The painting of three girls laughing beneath a cherry blossom tree in full bloom filled the entire screen. The girl in the wheelchair in the center. Beside her, a long-haired girl laughing with an arm around her shoulder, and a smaller girl smiling a little shyly. Drip. A tear fell from Yuuki's eye, wetting the phone screen. "[surprised] Ah, crap..." She hurriedly tried to wipe the screen with her sleeve. But the IV tube got in the way, and she couldn't lift her sleeve properly. "[scared] O-oh, come on!" This time, she carefully wiped the screen with the edge of her pillowcase. *Thrash, flail.* Once the screen was finally clean, she gazed at the painting again. "[crying] ...Silica-chan." Her voice shook. But it wasn't a sad kind of trembling. She launched the drawing app *Canvas Note* on her phone. Referencing the painting Silica had sent, she began adding the final touches of color—stroke by stroke—to the background section she'd been in charge of: the row of cherry trees and the light on the river. Her hand was trembling. But she didn't stop. Placing the very last drop of light onto the water's surface, she pressed the *Complete* button. Click. She slowly typed out a reply message to Silica. *"Silica-chan, thank you. Now we just need to ask Sonoko-senpai."* It was the first moment Yuuki had ever entrusted her weakness to someone else. She forwarded the completed digital sketch to the art club's shared folder. Outside the window beside her bed, the row of cherry trees along the Nishinagawa River still held tight buds—but they were waiting for the morning. ********************** The next morning. Sonoko, the first to arrive at the art club room, checked the shared folder, her long, dull-purple hair swaying. Yuuki's digital sketch had arrived. Without a word, she printed it out on the high-resolution printer. She stood before the enormous canvas. 1.8 meters tall, 3.6 meters wide. The rough sketch of the town that Silica had drawn, Yuuki's digital background, and the photo of Silica's figure painting that Asuna had taken and shared the night before—the three pieces assembled into a single image in her mind. Sonoko quietly picked up her brush. She didn't say a single word. She simply looked at the painting. And then, she began to move her brush. The air grew taut. A short while later, Asuna and Silica burst into the art room. The two of them saw Sonoko's back as she stood before the canvas, and the painting that was already halfway integrated—and they gasped. At the center of the canvas, the outline of a powerful cherry tree trunk was emerging. "[surprised] ...Sonoko-senpai." Sonoko didn't turn around. Her sleepy, drooping eyes were, just for now, as sharp as a cat stalking its prey. Her brush raced across the canvas. "[serious] ...There's one day until the culture festival. If the two of you help, we'll make it." She said just that, curtly. Silica and Asuna exchanged glances. Then, they stood side by side in front of the easels. Silica picked up her own brush. Asuna squeezed out paint beside her. Their shoulders touched, just barely. The cherry blossoms within the canvas were on the verge of blooming.