The Final Promise

The Final Promise is a short manga-format side-story, which takes place on the last day of SAO. It was written by Kawahara Reki, under the pen-name "Kunori Fumio", and drawn by Kurusu Tatsuya.

Summary
On November 7th, 2024, at 14:55 (2:55 PM) Silica is in her home in the city of Floria on the 47th Floor. She is relaxing with Pina as she drinks, when Pina begins to act strangely. Silica believes that Pina wants more food, when all of a sudden, an alarm rings out throughout the world. A System Announcement declares that world has entered "Forced Administration Mode", and that the game has been cleared. Silica is confused, knowing that the front lines should only be at the 75th Floor, and wonders if she can really log out.

She then realizes that logging out would mean she would be forced to abandon Pina. She begins to cry, realizing that Pina was trying to warn her of this. Silica begins to cry, saying that she didn't want to leave yet, and that this was too fast, before Pina "dies". Silica cries out, as she "didn't even get to say goodbye", before she realizes that Pina's heart remains. She recalled the words of Kirito, that if the "heart" is left behind, she could revive Pina. She promises to become stronger, and go find Pina once again.

Later we see Keiko in a hospital room, with her cat, named Pina, on her lap. She asks her cat if she'd listen to her stories about a friend that she met in another world, with the same name.

Trivia

 * This story was published in, "Sword Art Online: Silica Edition", with the side-story, "A Spot of Sunshine in the Winter".