Chapter 2: Virtual Hiccups by Alvis93
Sunlight blared down all over Alfheim as Kirito returned to his and Asuna's virtual home after one of his small adventures. It was noon and his partner had been busily preparing lunch while their AI daughter, Yui, was setting the table. Kirito greeted them both as he entered through the wooden door and began to unload some treasures from his inventory. "I found some good loot today! I'll be taking it all over to Agil later unless there's anything you want to keep?"
Asuna was just finishing off Kirito's usual spicy sandwich and placed it in his spot on the table. "I'll have to have a look after lunch." She grabbed her cup as she turned back to the kitchen top and filled it with water from the sink before sipping at it and sat down. A few seconds after she got comfortable, Asuna quietly jumped in her seat. She blinked, waited a moment, and then went to take a bite of her sandwich before it happened again, this time with a loud *hic!* ringing around the room. Kirito and Yui both looked at her curiously.
"Did you find a new glitch?" the young Spriggan asked. Asuna shook her head in response, another, more forceful *hic!* erupting from her.
"It looks like mommy has the hiccups. It's a rare affliction in ALO, but certain items can almost always cause it to trigger." Yui flew around the table, inspecting Asuna's food. "Nothing here should have done it..." She then spotted Asuna's cup and checked its properties out. "Uh oh..."
"Did you find something, Yui?"
"Mommy must have used one of your treasures as a cup..." She pulled up the item's info box. "It's called a "Hiccup Cup." It says that it gives the drinker incurable hiccups for at least half an hour."
"Half an *huck!* hour?! *Hic-cup!* Who would m-*hic!*-make something like *hic!* that?!"
"It's a unique item. There's no ID number for it either..." Yui finished inspecting it and sat on Kirito's shoulder. "It's almost like it forced itself into the code from somewhere else."
"So you're telling us that Agil will pay a lot for it?"
"How can you *HUCK!* oof... *HIC-AH!* How can you be *HIC!* thinking of money still?"
"What? It's just hiccups. No big deal." Kirito smiled. "Besides, you're our healer anyway. Don't you have a spell to stop them?"
Asuna went to speak, but quickly checked her spells menu. She had nothing for hiccups specifically, but tried casting one to nullify status afflictions in general. Kirito and Yui watched her for a while as she waited, another loud *HUCK!* bursting forth from her. "I did say they're incurable," the tiny fairy chimed in with a giggle as the Sylph groaned.
A few hours later Kirito made his way over to Agil's store. He dumped all of his treasure onto the counter while the Gnome valued it. "There's a lot of good stuff here today. I should be able to rustle up about a thousand Yrd for it all. ...This cup though... There's nothing like it going on the market..."
"Asuna said she'd kill me if I brought it back..." They both sighed, then shared a grin.
"I'll find a good home for it then. I'm sure that someone would love to have it."
"Thanks, Agil!" Kirito took the money and quickly left as Agil continued to inspect the cup before setting it on the shelf behind him to tempt any curious customers.
