Definition

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Red eyes peaked from the trapdoor. "Alright. It's empty."

One by one they climbed, stepping out to fresh air. Around them were greenery of all kinds.

"Wow, even the backyard is big..." Nikolai muttered as his eyes wander.

"Stay focused." His cousin reminded. "We don't know if there are any 'guards' near by."

"Right."

"This way." The black and white haired man opened the back door and led them down a series of hallways. Eventually, they got to a large pair of doors. "There's a passage in here that could take us to the other side of the building. We'll head to the banquet hall and go up. From there, we're only a few corridors away."

They entered the room, surprised to find all the different items inside. Seeing the bed, they figured it was someone's room, if not a guest's. A reinforced cardboard diorama stood at the top of a stage of sort. Training equipment and strange statues were on the stage's wings. Behind that, they could see swords in their hilts, and other kinds of fighting equipment.

What caught their eye, however, was right in front of them. A case full of golden thropies, all baring the same name.

"Jin-san, this is..."

He nodded at the brunette. "My room. Eva's is across the hall."

"I knew you were childhood friends, but I didn't think you actually lived together..." Nikolai muttered. "I thought she was a neighbour or something."

Hana peered into the glass case. "Science and Technology... Biochemistry... Mathematics... Literature... Archery? ... Even fencing?! Jin-san, you're amazing!"

Muraku caught sight of plaques hung on the wall. "There's even more here... Most of these are from 10 to 13 years ago..."

"It's no wonder you graduated highschool at 14 then." Niara sighed.

"He WHAT?!"

"Yeah, he just went back to school for a bit to keep Eva company, but even she graduated fast."

"This is kinda scary though..." Yuuya muttered, standing next to Hana. "Even for Jin."

"Homeschooling works wonders." Hugo smiled slightly. "Depending on how you take it, you can either fall far behind or get way ahead."

"If you're all done going over my childhood, get moving." He tried not to sigh as he opened a passage below the diorama. It was the same one Ban, Ami, and Kazu appeared out of when they infiltrated six years ago.

He went in, crawling ahead of the group. Almost immediately, he opened another passage and headed left.

"Why don't we use the regular corridors to head to the banquet hall?"

"To avoid survaillence."

"But won't there be cameras inside the hall?"

"No, they were all destroyed years ago."

"There's so many passages in this place..."

"It looks like it goes on forever too."

"This cuts through several rooms, so really, it's a shorter route."

"Yeah, but the fact that we're crawling is making it take longer than it should've."

"Let's just keep moving."

It took a while, but finally, they made it to the banquet hall. That was when Jin realized Kirito was wrong. This fortress had been bombed before, but not by the World Sabers. The memory was clear in his head, but it wasn't the time to get nostalgic.