I gazed up at the very top of the shelf. The row of glass bottles seemed to wink at me, and I had a brief flashback to a moment in a maze years ago.
Soy sauce.
I stopped in my tracks and reached out to tug Asuna's sleeve. "Hey, Asuna." she halted, too, at my touch, and turned toward me. "Mmm?"
"Can you make that sandwich?" She tilted her head, long chestnut hair parting like a waterfall of silk over her shoulder. A shoulder that was slightly rounder than usual, I noticed. "What sandwich?"
"You know. The one. We can get soy sauce right here." I jerked my head towards the shelf. Yui, arms wrapping tighter around my neck, asked in my ear "Can I get it, Daddy?"
"Sure." Using my arms as footholds (I tried not to wince—she was small, after all, so it didn't hurt much) she climbed from my back onto my shoulders and reached out, tiny hand closing around the neck of a bottle. She pulled it carefully to her chest so that it was wedged rather uncomfortably between her and the back of my neck, and then wrapped her arms around my head. I put a hand up and tugged them down a little. "Ah-you're covering my nose, Yui. I need to breath."
"Sorry, Daddy."
Asuna frowned at me and I gave her an awkward smile in return. "That looks dangerous, Kirito-kun." she chided.
"I've carried you like this." I reminded her.
She shook her head. "I mean the soy sauce."
"O-oh." I stammered.
"I can put it in the basket, Mommy."
Asuna smiled and held it up while Yui gently placed it amongst various other foods we had already gathered. "Thank you, Yui. Come on, Kirito-kun, we still have to get milk. And pickles. And lemons." Open-mouthed, I stared at her. Asuna jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow and I closed my jaw quickly, moving forward again. She slipped her hand through the crook of my arm as we walked, the basket hanging from her other arm. As the voices of other shoppers and the sound of traffic outside became a murmur in the background, I looked down at Asuna. Her beautiful body was gradually becoming more rounded in places. Especially where her white woolen coat fell open at the front—there was a slight swelling in her belly that made my heart skip beats every time I looked at it.
My eyes trailed back up to the silver ring on her left hand and I thought about the matching one on first time we had worn rings they had been lines of code in a computer. These were real, solid silver. I closed my eyes and felt the weight of Yui on my shoulders and against the back of my head. I drunk in the warmth of Asuna's hand on my arm.
Real.