Yui only remembers her own name.
She didn't know which level she came from, didn't remember her parents, and couldn't explain why she had entered the twenty-second level forest alone. Kirito tried using the player search to find similar names, but the result was blank.
Lin Yuan did not press the matter further.
Memories don't suddenly return just because someone asks them a few times. He himself spent many years, and could only see scattered fragments in his dreams.
"Eat something first," he said.
Asuna prepared a light soup and bread. Yui sat at the table, initially unable to even hold the cutlery properly, and only wanted to eat slowly next to Lin Yuan.
Kirito and Asuna did not deliberately get close to each other.
They could tell that although Yui didn't reject the two of them, she kept most of her attention on Lin Yuan. As soon as Lin Yuan left her sight, the girl would immediately stop what she was doing until she found him again.
In the afternoon, Lin Yuan prepared to go to the lakeside to examine " Nameless ".
Just as I reached the door, someone tugged at my clothes.
Yui stood barefoot behind him, looking up at him.
"Is my brother leaving?"
Go outside.
Will they come back?
"Right by the lake."
Yui didn't let go.
Lin Yuan had no choice but to take her with him.
The lake in front of the wooden house was very calm. Lin Yuan sat on the shore, with the Nameless Sword lying across his lap. The blue patterns inside the sword's spine had mostly recovered, and the vibrations left by the Mountain Severance had completely disappeared.
Yui sat down close to him, hugging her knees with both hands.
"Does my brother carry a sword every day?"
Most of the time.
"Why?"
"Protect yourself, and also protect the person who happens to be in front of you."
Will I get hurt?
"Meeting."
Yui lowered her head. She seemed to remember something, and a strong sense of unease suddenly appeared in her eyes.
"It will disappear after it is injured."
Who disappeared?
The girl couldn't answer.
A flood of fragmented images flashed through her mind: crying people, sounds abruptly cut off, numbers steadily dropping, and faces that never appeared again. She didn't know where she had seen these things before, only that such disappearances would never return.
Yui clutched her head, her breathing becoming rapid and shallow.
Lin Yuan put away " Nameless " and pressed down on her shoulder.
Look at me.
Yui forced herself to lift her head.
"This is the lakeside," Lin Yuan said. " Kirito and Asuna are inside. You sit next to me. What you saw earlier hasn't happened yet."
His voice wasn't deliberately softened, but it was steady enough.
Yui's disordered breathing gradually returned to normal. She reached out and grabbed Lin Yuan's sleeve again.
Will my brother disappear too?
Lin Yuan did not answer immediately.
He really had to leave this world. There were still people in Fairy Tail waiting for him, and he couldn't promise to stay in SAO forever just to put Yui at ease.
"I'm looking for my way home."
"Isn't this my brother's home?"
"No."
The unease reappeared in Yui's eyes.
Lin Yuan looked at the lake. "But my guild is here too."
He told Yui about the Moonlit Black Cats. Keita always got the accounts wrong, Tetsuo and Sasamaru would argue about the room, Ducker only cared about whether the new house was close enough to the tavern, and Sachi would always stop him when he was about to leave with his broken weapon.
They also talked about another guild that Yui had never heard of before.
Fairy Tail is noisy every day; members fight over pointless things, and the guild building needs renovations every now and then. There's an old man who takes amnesiac children home, and a girl who calls him " Lin Yuan- ge" at the door.
"So, brother, you absolutely have to go back?"
"Um."
Will you come back after you find your home?
Lin Yuan did not easily deceive her with a simple "yes". He did not know when the world rift would appear or whether it could reopen.
"As long as there are people still waiting, I will find a way to come back."
Yui looked at him, seemingly trying to figure out how his words differed from ordinary words of comfort.
After a long time, she gently leaned on Lin Yuan's arm.
"Then I'll wait for my brother."
Lin Yuan raised his hand and placed it on her head. The movement was a little stiff at first, but he eventually smoothed her black hair that had been ruffled by the wind.
For the next two days, Yui followed him almost constantly.
Lin Yuan didn't enter the maze; he simply took her for a walk along the lake, teaching her to identify low-level monsters that wouldn't attack on their own. Yui would hide behind him before he drew his sword and would cautiously peek out after the monsters were knocked away by the scabbard.
Kirito asked privately, "Do you even remember you came here to rest?"
"Remember."
"Why do I seem busier than when I'm navigating a dungeon?"
Lin Yuan looked at Yui was running back carrying a bunch of wildflowers.
"No the same."
On the morning of the third day, Yui suddenly woke up from her dream.
She didn't cry, but walked barefoot out of the room and looked towards the lower floors beyond the forest.
Lin Yuan followed him to the door. "What did you hear?"
Someone is calling me.
"Who?"
Yui shook her head. She couldn't identify the owner of the voice, but she could clearly sense the direction.
It's not the twenty-second floor.
The persistent call came from the very bottom of Aincrad, from where all the players were initially trapped.
The first level, the Town of Beginnings.