217. Est Resurrection and Kaito Apology.

The next morning, Kaito woke up early and was prepared to resurrect Est... either physically or emotionally. Fortunately, the system was willing to cover the cost, so Kaito only needed to gather all seven Est soul fragments he had collected from all three different worlds.

*Sigh*

"Not sure if Est is willing to forgive me, but for now I need to bring her back to atone for my sin," Kaito muttered.

*Knock* *Knock*

????

"Master, are you awake?" Sakuya's voice rang out from behind the door.

"This voice... Sakuya?" Kaito, who had just finished putting on his usual white shirt, asked. "Wait a moment, I'll open the door."

When Kaito opened the door, he saw Sakuya smiling gently, carrying a two-tiered bento box in front of him.

"Sakuya... this?"

"Good morning, Master. I'm here to deliver the bento for you and Est later for lunch."

"This..." 

Sakuya then put the bento into Kaito's hand, "I'm sure Est will be hungry after returning, and I hope she remembers and enjoys my cooking."

"Also, please tell her that I miss her so much, Master."

...!!

"Sakuya..." Hearing Sakuya's words, Kaito nodded slowly, "I will tell her. But once again, I'm sorry about everything that happened."

Remembering she seems to be the most persistent wanted to see Est last night, Kaito obviously felt a deep guilt toward her. Before Est's death, it's undeniable that Sakuya is the second closest person to her, being the one who was also summoned by Kaito and also takes care of her daily. Sakuya even prepared all of her lunch, snacks, food, and even games. Perhaps, because of her experience taking 2 loli vampires in Gensokyo, Sakuya is capable of taking care little girl more than him.

Sakuya just nodded at him, "You're welcome, master. Make sure you finish your task today, I will tell everyone in this villa about your business."

"Thank you. I promise I will spend more time with you after this."

"That's good to know."

After that, with the bento put inside the inventory and checking that all the fragments are there, without hesitation, Kaito quickly transferred back to the Base world to finish the job he needed to do today.

>>>>>

After transferring to the Base World, Kaito finds himself in the meeting room of the "Wooden Mansion" and hears many children's noise from outside, where this location should be surrounded by nature. Curious, Kaito looks out the window, then in the distance, he sees many modern houses standing in an area that used to be a forest. 

"I guess this place won't be quiet from now on, although that's fine, to be honest," Kaito muttered while smiling. "Besides, we can always build another living place later; now we are going to start having actual people living in this world."

Remembering that the immigration process of cursed children to this world has already started, Kaito guessed that those houses must be prepared for cursed children, and some of them have been occupied.

It's just the first step before their world would be filled with people, and it would be a place where every chat group member lives together. With thousands of cursed children around the world and maybe refugees from the High School of the Dead world, this world wouldn't be so empty anymore.

And when there are enough people, that would be the time when Kaito decided to use the SEED of the world he got from SAO permanently, which has always been one of his goals to do in this world.

>>>>>

After exploring the deserted wooden mansion a little bit, Kaito finally arrived at his own private room, a luxurious room with a red carpet and king king-size bed. This is the room where he spent the most time with Est (sleeping), and Kaito thought it was the perfect place to bring her back to live. As the leader of the chat group, he naturally has one of the largest rooms in the mansion as his living place. However, Kaito had a feeling he wouldn't be living in this room later on when they decide to build this world seriously, as this would become their 'ideal world' to live in.

"Yeah... this place is gonna do." Kaito wryly smiled at himself while standing in the middle of the room, "I will meet you again, Est..."

'System, how can I resurrect Est back to life now? You know we have successfully collected all the soul fragments and removed all the curses.'

*DING*

[Answering Owner's question: It's the same as the regular revive process, just a little extra work. Simply gather all nine fragments gathered on the floor, and the system will complete the rest.]

'That's good to know. No need for any magical circle whatsoever, right?'

[No.]

...

*Inhale*

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Kaito then pulled all the Est soul fragments from his inventory one by one and placed them on the red carpet floor. Each fragment was cleansed from the curses, giving Kaito a sense of comfort when he held it... as if to tell him everything would be okay.

"Est, we're going to meet again."

Each placement also made Kaito's heart race, filled with anxiety and anticipation, all while longing to see his "little sister" again. Soon, he finally reached the last Est soul fragment. The moment Kaito put the last piece, each soul fragment glowed brightly, and slowly they were merging. The light from the Est soul fragment gave off a soft, comforting glow that illuminated the entire room... followed by a notification from the system.

[The soul recovery process begins...]

[The soul is completed.]

[Begin the process of re-creating the body...]

[Begin the process to awake the consciousness of the soul...]

[Begin the process to renew the contract with 'Owner'...]

"..."

During the process of reviving Est, Kaito remained silent and focused on watching how Est's body was slowly being rebuilt and ensuring that nothing went wrong.

Every sentence the system spoke gave Kaito a sense of hope and excitement, knowing he would meet his beloved sister soon.

[Terminus Est has been revived. The Group Task has been completed.]

*SHINE*

...!!!

The moment the chat group system with the process, the whole room shines brightly, making Kaito unable to see for a second what's happening. When the light subsided, however, Kaito met a very familiar person in front of him, lying on the red carpet.

This is someone whom Kaito used to spend every night with and his most trusted partner... breathing, and even emitting heat, indicating the person is alive.

"Ah... E...st?"

He could also feel the missing 'connection' with her come back, making Kaito couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with happiness, and his eyes started tearing up.

*Sniff* *Sniff*

A little girl with long white hair and a cute face, dressed in a white gown, was lying on the floor-- Terminust Est, his beloved sister, has come back alive and well.

With his voice and body trembling with excitement, Kaito slowly approached Est, put his hand on her shoulder, and called out, "E-Est? Are you... awake?"

Hearing her master's voice, Est, feeling as if she had just woken from a long sleep, tried to open her eyes. Instantly, she saw Kaito before her, trembling and crying... in front of her, which made her confused.

"Master?"

...!!!

"EST!"

Hearing the sweet voice of the person he missed so much, Kaito couldn't hold himself back anymore and immediately hugged Est's body tightly.

???

"Umm... Master? I feel a little tight in your arms." Est, who is still really confused and feeling weak, couldn't help but ask, "M-Master? Are you hurt? Why are you crying?"

Still hugging her tightly and refusing to let her go, Kaito then shook his head and answered her repeatedly like a broken doll, "No, I am so happy you are back! You are back! You are back!"

"I am... back...?? Ah!?!"

Hearing the word "back" from Kaito, Est immediately remembered what had happened before and immediately felt a heavy headache because she suffered some kind of PTSD from her last moment. Est remembered how Kaito forcibly unsealed her full power and absorbed the bad luck curse that Kaito had to win against a very strong opponent for Kaito. In that moment, Est felt her whole soul was tortured... making her feel a pain that she couldn't describe before she ended up killing herself in the process.

"Est?! Are you okay?!"

'System, use 10.000 points to make sure nothing went wrong with Est!'

*DING*

[10.000 points have been consumed].

Looking at Est, who seemed to grimace in pain out of nowhere, Kaito became really anxious and concerned about whether there would be sequela after the resurrection process. Without any hesitation, Kaito immediately used his healing props to help stabilize her and even asked the Chat Group system to help, and fortunately, it helped Est a lot to process memories of her last moments.

The memory of great struggle, the big fight against Gilgamesh, and the forced awakening using her final form...

Although the process was torturous, as a holy sword and Kaito's main weapon, Est didn't regret it and was glad that she was able to help his master survive. The fact that his master stood in an embrace with her in concern clearly shows that Kaito is fine, and it's clear that his master also managed to bring her back to life.

After a while, Est finally became calm again after a temporary moment of pain and confusion, which made Kaito sigh in relief.

"Est, w-what happened to you earlier?"

"Master... I just remember what happened." Est stared at Kaito's eyes, smiled softly as she was glad to see her master looking very well, "The fact you are still here... Did I manage to help you back then?"

"I am glad."

....!!!

"EST! Aaaah! Forgive me! I am so sorry! I am so sorry about what happened to you!"

Hearing her concerned words, Kaito's tears immediately flowed uncontrollably, as he hugged Est tightly once more, even strongly. Est, now able to sense her master's guilt toward her, didn't refuse. She stroked his back sincerely, reassuring him that she had returned and this time she would never leave him again.

"It's okay, master.... It's okay..."

"But-- I hurt you... *Sniff* I killed you... I am so sorry..."

"I forgive you, master. Please don't be sad."

"I am so sorry... sorry.... sorry..."

...

Kaito continues to repeatedly apologize to Est, like a broken clock that seeks forgiveness. Kaito is aware that she must be really feeling excruciating pain in her final moment, otherwise there's no way Est would react like that after remembering her last moment. At this point, Kaito determined not to hurt her ever again, and swore he wouldn't make the same mistake to think his curse as 'ability'.

After that, realizing Est must be hungry and weak after being 'asleep' for so long, Kaito took out the 'lunch' Sakuya had prepared from his inventory. They then spent the time eating lunch together, while Kaito told Est everything that had happened and how all the chat group members also missed her and were working together to bring her back.