Sword Art Online II Episode 23

The Dream Begins (夢の始まり) is the twenty-third episode of the Sword Art Online II anime adaptation, as well as the sixth episode of Mother's Rosario. It aired on December 13, 2014.

Plot
On January 12, 2026, the day after Asuna reunited with Yuuki, Kirigaya Kazuto and two other mechatronics course students were working on tuning Kazuto's Bidirectional Communication Probe for Yuuki to use to take part in the lessons at the SAO Survivor School. As lunch break was almost over, Asuna asked the boys to hurry up. After the tuning was completed, Asuna took the shoulder-mounted probe to the faculty office to introduce Yuuki to the teacher of the upcoming lesson.

Asuna then took Yuuki to class, where she soon became the centre of attention. As the lesson began, everyone took their seats and Yuuki was asked to read a passage. After the end of the lessons, Yuuki thanked Asuna for the opportunity to visit a school, but Asuna told her that she could come to school every day with her. Asuna then asked Yuuki whether there was any place that she wanted to go to as well and Yuuki answered that there was one place that she wanted to visit.

As requested, Asuna took Yuuki the old Konno residence. As Asuna still had some free time, Yuuki talked about the memories she had at the house and also mentioned that the house would be torn down soon, so Yuuki wanted to see it one last time. Asuna then suggested that when Yuuki turned sixteen, she should marry someone she liked to have the person protect her home. Yuuki laughed and said that she did not have anyone that she would want to marry, but then made a joke proposal to marry Asuna and asked her to be the wife so that she would not become Yuuki Yuuki.

After the joke, Yuuki thanked Asuna again and said that by seeing her house she realised how her mother had been surrounding her with her feelings. Asuna then told Yuuki about the relationship she had with her own mother and asked Yuuki how to be as strong as her. However, Yuuki claimed that she was not strong, but she did not feel like she had time to waste, so she would always be honest with her feelings.

As Yuuki recommended Asuna to talk with her mother and share what she felt, Asuna decided to show her world to her mother by asking her to use an AmuSphere. Reluctantly, Kyouko agreed and used Asuna's sub account to log in. In the Forest House, Asuna showed her mother the view outside the house, reminding Kyouko about the home of her parents.

Asuna then reminded Kyouko about the time when the whole family went to Kyoto, while Asuna went to Kyouko's parents' home instead. Asuna told Kyoukou that her parents were not angry that Kyouko did not come to visit them. Instead, they told Asuna that Kyouko was their treasure and how they were happy with how well Kyouko was doing, but they would protect their home so that Kyouko would have a place to return to if she got tired. Asuna then finished by saying that she lately realised how life was not about just doing things for oneself and how the happiness of others could make one happy as well, thus she wanted to remain in her current school where she could support the ones she loved. As Asuna said that, tears started falling from Kyouko's eyes, though she exclaimed that she did not want to cry. Asuna then explained that people could not hide their tears in the virtual world, thus nobody could stop crying when they wanted to. Kyouko then gave up on controlling her emotions and burst into tears.

The next morning, Kyouko told Asuna that if she planned to support someone, she had to be strong herself, thus she would have to work hard on her grades to get into university and whether Asuna would have to transfer or not would depend on her progress. After Kyouko left the room, Asuna thanked her mother and Yuuki as well.

Locations

 * SAO Survivor School
 * The neighbourhood of Yuuki's home.
 * Yuuki residence
 * 22nd Floor of New Aincrad
 * Forest House K4

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Volume 7, Chapter 10

Trivia

 * The episode, like SII Episode 14, is one of the only episodes in the series where the preview at the end of the episode is not voiced by Kazuto's (Kirito's) Japanese voice actor, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu. Instead, in this episode, the preview is voiced by Asuna's Japanese voice actor, Tomatsu Haruka.
 * Originally, the preview was read by Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, but, as the staff felt that it would not be appropriate for Yoshitsugu to voice the title, the staff also recorded a version by Tomatsu Haruka. Even the author of the series himself was not sure which version would be used until he saw the broadcast.

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