Reality Imperfect: The Sisters' Tale
A Sword Art Online AU
Written by: Konsaki
10 Dec 2022 - Day 34
Kiriko just stared at the the still flushed white clad girl seated next to her, even as Asuna's shining golden-brown eyes bore into her own steely blues. The idle thought that she could see herself reflected in the inky darkness of the girl's dilated pupils, like twin holes punctured in the fabric of the universe with their irresistible gravity drawing her in, made Kiriko's cheeks heat up.
This girl… this beautiful young woman just… What, tricked her?
She blinked her steely blue eyes and drank in the absolute content look of serenity across Asuna's face. From her eyes, her cheeks and her lips and the soft breaths causing her chest to rise and fall… Kiriko had no doubt in her mind that the girl had just accomplished one of her greatest wishes in life… at least, that's what the thought running through the raven-haired girl's mind at seeing her… wife's face so full of soft emotion.
It frightened her.
To see such utter adoration from the brunette… to see the expression that said 'you are my all' on the young woman's face as she calmly awaited Kiriko's… Judgement? Reciprocation?
She was scared by just how pure the emotion from the girl, who she just married, shown so radiently.
She had questions, in a quantity so numerous that she couldn't even fathom how to count them all; each one flitting to the front of her mind only to be shoved aside before it was even fully formed. Only one survived the crucible long enough to reach her lips…
"Why?"
Instead of looking offended at the whispered question, the brunette before her somehow smiled more, eyes glistening as she said just four words in response.
With that, the 'Black Death' of Aincrad got up and walked out of the cafe.
o0O0o
A glass of clear liquid clinked to the wooden table before her, making her blink in what seemed like the first time in minutes. The surprise dragging her eyes from the unremovable thin golden band on her left ring finger.
"You look like you could use this, kid." Klein's voice intoned as the redhead sat to his left.
Across from her, Diavel sipped at a flute of white wine while Tiffany, to her right, held a tankard of something heady.
"You're taking this kind of rough." The other man-turned-woman at the table commented, wiping the foam from her upper lip. "From what I'm seeing, a little something to loosen yourself might help get things off your chest." It went unsaid that they'd prevent it from going any further than that.
"Come on, kid. Bottoms up." Klein raised his own small glass of liquid courage, waiting until the raven-haired girl did the same, throwing it back at the same time.
Kiriko let out a coughing fit, quickly snatching the juice set before a second later and drinking heavily from it. "W-what was that!"
"A couple shots of high grain sake with a chaser." Klein breathed out, giving a full body shiver. "Good stuff!"
"They make a surprisingly good beer here, too." Tiffany committed with a grin. "But it's not smart to mix liquors and beers together. Trust me on that."
Diavel let out a snort. "Yeah, I learned that my first weekend at University. Got invited to a party by my upperclassman roommate and suffered the consequences the next day."
The three adults at the table shared a laugh, picturing their own drinking lessons they'd learned through self experience or seeing other's mistakes.
As for Kiriko, she felt her face tingling and every muscle in her body suddenly flare in dull pain. "Does it always hurt?"
The adults shared a glance before Tiffany spoke up, rubbing a hand to the girl's shoulder. "Hmm… only when you're wound up tighter than a spring. The alcohol's deadening your nerve signals and allowing your muscles to finally relax some. It'll fade in a bit, especially with the amount this yutz tricked you into slamming back."
She dropped her elbows to the wood and hid her face in tingling hands, feeling the metal band against her skin.
'Tricked'.
She took a shuddering breath as emotions warred inside her.
"Hey, kid." Klein placed a hand softly on her shoulder, getting her to peek at him. "None of us are gonna do anything like laugh or make fun of ya. We're here to help, ya." The redhead reassured the boy-turned-girl, his speech getting looser than normal with his buzz.
"Agreed." Diavel nodded, from his place across from Kiriko, having placed his still nearly full drink back to the table to fold his hands before him. "While I was surprised to see the system notification, I was more worried when I saw Klein's call for assistance."
'System Notification'... he meant the marriage announcement, Kiriko's buzzed mind translated, Asuna's smiling face flashed in her vision.
"We can't make any decisions for you, though." Tiffany warned, a serious look on her face. "I've helped many people that were going through relationship issues but I never made a decision for any of them.." She gave a small smile to the girl, tapping her own head. "Even though I somehow managed to get a great girl like Kathy to marry me, I by no means know everything about women, even if I'm one right now!" She finished with a quick laugh.
Kiriko could see something click in Diavel's mind at the black woman's words, looking at the young woman across from him. She knew he'd realised something as his eyes flashed wide for a split second. "You're Kirito."
She just nodded, taking a sip from her juice, hoping to wet her suddenly dry mouth.
"I see…" He trailed off in thought, drumming his bare fingers against the table before pausing. "You two already knew." He stated at the people flanking him before looking at the black haired girl before him. "Does she know?"
Kiriko pursed her lips, remembering that they'd never actually talked about the fact she was really a boy after Asuna found out. It'd just… sort of been ignored. Asuna never brought it up again and she just let the matter rest.
"She knows." Klein answered for her with a sigh, taking a sip of more clear liquid from another glass. It looked like he wanted to say more but refrained.
The four Adventurers settled into an uneasy calm for a bit, before Diavel chuckled. "You know that I put a bounty on your head?"
That got Kiriko to blink. "What?"
"In the Beta." The armored knight clarified with a grin. "After the third time you ganked me, I got so pissed I put a twenty thousand Col bounty out for you."
"Really?" She thought back to that point and cocked her head. "Huh. So that's why I had so many duel requests."
"Yup. I required logged proof of your defeat, so I contracted Argo." He chuckled. "Never paid out, too."
Kiriko just shrugged with her own grin. "She never told me about it... So, should I expect another wave of duel requests?"
Klein snorted, barely pulling his drink back in time. "Yeah, like anyone'd go after the 'Black Death', even for that amount. Anyone good enough would know just what you did… what you can do."
"That and that was all in the past, when this was just a game." Diavel stated, taking another sip of his white wine. "Right now, there's too much to work towards. We don't need distractions like that."
Kiriko heard the unsaid 'like your current problem'.
She dropped her forehead into her hands, looking at the hard grained wood tabletop before her face. "I just don't know how I'm supposed to feel about all this… or do!"
"She's obsessed with you."
"I know." Kiriko acknowledged Klein's statement. "I'm scared."
"Let's start there." Diavel said, his fingers now on the holographic keyboard overlaying the tabletop, a transparent window with lines of text already in it floating to the side. "All problems can be broken down into smaller parts. While you might not be able to deal with the whole thing, you can resolve each piece or even brake them down even more."
"It's either that or get you piss drunk to the point you start ranting and crying, getting it all out of your system and hope you remember it in the morning." Tiffany added with a shrug. "Personally, I'd prefer the first option."
Klein nodded towards the other two adults. "So, while I think I already know, why don't you tell us why you're scared."
She did. She told them about the look of absolute adoration and serenity that Asuna displayed. The look that everything was finally right with her world. That she'd do anything Kiriko asked of her, if given the chance.
That's what scared her.
Diavel finished typing something before reading something in the display. "You flinched earlier, when Tiffany said Klein tricked you. Why?" The man's speech pattern turning more analytical instead of grandiose.
She flinched again at the reminder, though none of the adults said anything.
"She tricked me into sending her the marriage proposal." Kiriko answered.
"What? She just asked you to go through the motions or something?" Klein leaned back and crossed his arms, looking towards the dark ceiling.
"Yes."
"Damn… I can see why you think she tricked you, kid." Klein commiserated with her.
"How did that make you feel?" Diavel inquired, typing something further in his notes. Notes about her, she realised.
"I don't know…" Kiriko shook her head and ran a hand through her bangs. "I was just so surprised at first. I mean, who would expect someone to just trick them into asking them to marry you?!"
"You'd be surprised." Tiffany answered the mostly rhetorical question, tapping the table with a manicured fingernail. "I've heard of girlfriends who finally got tired of waiting for their boyfriends to pop the question, so they engineer a situation which puts him on the spot; either pop the question or lose everything. Most guys take the hint. The others… well, it was probably better for both parties that it didn't happen."
"But why?! Why did she… we're just friends!" She cried out, voice echoing off the small empty tavern walls. "We barely know each other!"
"Knowing what I do about you, especially from our time in the Beta, I can say you're a decently adjusted young man, if a bit antisocial, who's suffering from forced gender dysphoria, most likely caused by the Calamity locking you into that body." Diavel intoned, finishing off a line of notes. He glanced towards her with a meaningful look. "I think the situation says more about her than it does you."
Kiriko saw Tiffany nod at the assessment, though she didn't fully understand it. Her gaze was instead drawn to Klein as he let out a sigh before taking a long drink of sake. "What?"
Klein leaned forward to place the half-full glass onto the table, folding his hands and looking down at them, avoiding her gaze. "While you were out of it… you know, after Illfang, I stopped by to see how you guys were holding up."
"You got Sugu drunk again." Kiriko said with a small, weak smile.
Klein chuckled, looking her in the eye while shrugging. "She did her thing, grabbing the wrong bottle. What do you want me to do?"
"Try not getting my sister drunk?" She answered, getting the older man to chuckle.
"Yeah, fat chance of that." He said before taking a breath. "Anyways, before that, it was just me and Asuna with you there, dead to the world. I was already blitzed and was ranting about how useless I felt about not being able to help you."
He leaned back and crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he remembered the event. "The entire time, she just kept sitting by your side on that bed. Changing the damp rag when it dried or just brushing your hair… Eventually, I asked her why she kept using female words for you when she knew you were a guy and I was only using 'he' and 'him'."
He opened his eyes and his hazel met steel blue.
"She said 'She'll always be my Kiriko'."
"Tch." Tiffany took a drink of her beer. "That's not good…"
"What?" Kiriko looked towards the older woman in confusion.
"Klein wasn't kidding when he said she was obsessed before." She replied, wiping her mouth with a hand. "This could go real bad, real quick if we aren't careful."
"You've seen this before?" Diavel asked, finding himself outside his well of knowledge on the subject.
Tiffany nodded, sending her wavy hair swaying before pursing her lips. "Well… My wife and I own a bar in Tokyo and keep in touch with a few friends around the area. After a bit, you start recognizing the regulars and figuring them out. You know, like their favorite drinks, how to read their moods before they even say anything, how they like their job… you know, it's like I'm like a cousin they can talk to while I serve them drinks."
She waved a hand in a small circle with her wrist. "Anyways, you notice when a regular stops showing up. I remember this one guy… nice, had a good job and over the moon for a girl and it sounded like she was the same for him. So everything's good, right?" She shook her head. "I saw his name on the news a few weeks after he stopped showing up. Girlfriend murdered him in his sleep after a female coworker texted him about an upcoming business trip while he was asleep." She took another drink of beer to wet her mouth, seeing the two men at the table cringe while the girl just stared at her. "Turns out she was just a little bit more than 'over the moon' for him and everyone missed the signs."
The Cerulean Knight stopped his note taking to take a sip of his own drink, looking towards the stunned looking girl across from him. "Fair warning but we're going to start asking questions about Asuna now. I doubt she'd talk to us herself about this, so we're going to be relying on you." He saw Kiriko nod and take a shaky breath. "First, how did you and Asuna meet? And try not to leave anything out. Even the smallest detail might hold clues."
Taking another shaky breath, she told them how she and Leafa had found the unconscious girl in the first floor Labyrinth.
Then about her waking and the ensuing conversation… about Asuna committing suicide, multiple times, in a failed attempt to return home.
"That's jacked up…" Klein muttered, tossing back the rest of his sake and not quite slamming the glass to the wood. "Like, really fucked up!"
"People were panicking and trying anything they could those first few days." Diavel commented, drinking from a glass of iced tea he'd ordered somewhere along the way. "I'm surprised it was as orderly as it was, if I'm being honest."
"Yeah, same here." Tiffany nodded her head with crossed arms. "Kathy and I were better off than most because we were together but a lot of people were cut off from everything they ever knew. Stress can make you do some crazy things…"
"Indeed." Diavel agreed, turning back to Kiriko. "Did she say anything else?"
The raven-haired girl scrunched up her brow in thought. "Well… she said something about not being able to remember what her brother looked like."
The three adults glanced at each other in confusion, not being able to see a connection.
"What? He dead or something?" Klein asked with a quirked eyebrow.
Kiriko shook her head. "No, she said he was on a business trip with their father for a few days. That's why she was even able to try out the game."
"That's not long enough for normal memory loss." Diavel rubbed his goatee in frustration.
"Hey, stupid question, but have any of you died in game since the Calamity?" Klein asked out.
The two females shook their heads but Diabel sighed. "Twice. Once to an add spawning in behind me and the other to fall damage."
"Do you notice anything different from before you died?" Tiffany asked, getting the man to furrowed his brow. "You know, memory gaps or personality changes?"
"Not that I've noticed… but that could be part of the effect…" The knight muttered to himself, stroking his goatee once more.
The rest knuckled down and pondered this new line of thinking.
"Hey… what about Leafa?" Klein asked, glancing towards the girl's older sibling. "Hasn't she been a bit… I don't know... in your face since Illfang?"
The other two adults just shrugged.
"I never met her until the raid meeting before that." Tiffany said, while Diavel stated something similar.
All eyes turned towards Kiriko, who was still staring at the table with a intensity that would punch a hole straight through it if she could. Eventually, she took a deep breath. "She's always been energetic but… maybe she's a little more since? I just thought it was her getting used to things or something."
"Hmm…" Diabel's hum drew the combined attention next. "I don't know if it's connected but I can't remember the topic of my finals thesis. Considering it was worth forty percent of my grade, I spent weeks on it."
"So you forgetting that is damn suspicious." Klein said, getting a nod in return. "Anything else?"
He let out a hum before looking to the worried girl and coughing. "Er… was I always this… grandiose in the Beta?"
Kiriko cocked her head in thought but eventually shook it. "I don't know. I didn't really pay attention to raid meetings outside of the actual plan. I just didn't care about most people."
"It could just be you getting used to your position as raid leader, though, too." Tiffany pointed out. "It might have nothing to do with anything."
"True but I had to ask." He nodded towards the black skinned woman.
"So, what? We've figured out that dying messes with your head and/or nukes your memories?" Klein asked with a sour look on his face, like they mixed the sugar rim of his drink up with salt or something.
"Maybe… but if it is like that, then it seems progressive with each death." Diavel pointed out, glancing at the contemplative girl across from him. "Did she say how many times she died?"
"No…" Kiriko admitted but looked into his blue-green eyes. "But it sounded she went through a lot."
Klein let out another sigh, pulling his bandanna off to run a hand through his long strands of crimson. "Back to when you were out for the count, I asked Asuna why she had an issue with you really being a guy." He shrugged but tapped the table with a finger. "I told her nevermind because her reaction to just the question was enough. She almost tore that wetrag into pieces with fear."
He tapped the table again. "And the first time I met her, she did her damnedest to hide behind the kid, keeping him between her and me until he told her I was safe."
"So, maybe some prior trauma?" Diabel hazarded, glancing to Tiffany who shrugged.
"If it is, then we don't know if it's before the Calamity, before she died, during or after but before Kiriko found her." The bar owner listed off on her fingers, with her being found counted on the small woman's thumb. "That's a lot of stuff happening in a short amount of time."
"It would explain some things, like why she latched onto Kiriko so strongly." Diavel commented with a nod at his own words.
"Wait. You're saying Asuna was hurt?" Kiriko asked, getting shrugs in response from the two adults on the right.
"We have no way to know without asking her and I'd rather not do so with everything that's just occured." Diavel admitted before grimacing. "In fact, even you leaving her like you did might be cause for concern."
Klein just waved it off. "I had Dynamm tell her and the kid's sister that we were throwing him a bachelor party to 'send him off properly'. He said Asuna actually smiled at that. Probably thinking that's one more step to making this marriage official."
"You may be right… Dammit all, this is one messed up situation." Tiffany rubbed her forehead in frustration.
"That's what I said." Klein agreed, drinking another glass of clear liquid. Considering the deep draws, Kiriko thought it was water.
"So… what do I do?" The raven-haired girl asked the gathered adults.
They glanced at each other until Diavel let out a sigh and shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't finished my training yet. I can diagnose problems pretty well but I don't know how to fix them." That admission looked to physically hurt the knight.
"All I can give you is the general suggestions I give almost every customer who's having relationship trouble; talk things through with her." Tiffany advised, reaching over to softly hold Kiriko's hand. "Find out what she really wants in this relationship… this marriage, no matter if it's real or not."
"I would advise against doing it immediately, though." Diavel shook his head, sending his cerulian hair waving. "I'd actually say it's better to just pretend you're happily married for a bit to comfort her. If you do anything outside what she expects as 'normal' it could trigger a rejection response, whether you intend it or not."
"But won't pretending just reinforce the problem?!" Klein slammed a fist into the table, rattling the empty cups and mugs. "What's it going to do to the kid, too?! You think he deserves this?!"
"I already said I don't have any way to fix this!" Diavel yelled back, frustration obvious. "I'm running blind here and doing my best!"
"Guys! Guys! Calm down!" Tiffany jumped out of her seat to push the men back into theirs. "Calm the hell down! Right now! Us fighting isn't helping the kid out and that's what we're here for, right?" She narrowed her eyes at the lack of response. "Right?!"
Diavel sighed. "You're right. I apologize."
"Yeah, same here. I'm just worried and pissed that I can't help." Klein wiped a hand down his face.
"You've already helped, Klein." The voice from his right drawing his gaze up to see Kiriko smiling at him. "You're the one to set this all up to help me and Asuna."
"He's right." Diavel nodded with a smile, reaching over to lightly punch the redhead's shoulder. "Sometimes it's knowing the right people and putting them in the right spot to do their jobs. Trust me, being a good leader is just that."
"I thought Argo set up the parties for both raids." Tiffany commented with a raised eyebrow.
Diavel just spread his arms and grinned. "I rest my case."
The four shared a light chuckle before the gravity of the situation settled once more upon them.
Klein stretched his arms towards the ceiling before clasping his hands behind his head. "So, we're still stuck with what to do about the kid's new wife."
"And I'll say again that I think the best thing to do right now is have everyone treat it like a real marriage, if only to make sure she stays relaxed." The Cerulean Knight posited once more to the table, going on to further explain. "That means referring to her as his wife every now and then in her presence to reinforce in her mind that the 'community', IE her friends, officially recognise it and we're happy for her."
"And I still don't like it." Tiffany repeated her own stance. "It's just reinforcing the delusion, which is going to make it harder later on."
"I don't know… sometimes you have to put the sword back into the fire to straighten it out." Klein mused, taking another drink. He looked out to see both the other adults giving him a confused look. "Nevermind… just the drink talking."
"Klein." The redheaded man cracked his eye open to look at the girl who looked a little desperate. "I could really use Aniki's advice right now…"
He blinked before he let out a breath, rubbing his eyes with both hands. "Look, kid. I'm not the best person to ask relationship advice from. I've managed to screw up all my dates and fallen on my face more times than I count in the past few years." He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Are you sure you really want my advice on this, kid?"
"Please…"
Klein sighed and patted the girls shoulder before sitting up straight and pointing to Diabel. "I think he's got a good plan to start with, treat her like she's really your wife; get her flowers, quick kisses her on the cheek or lips depending on what she wants… you know, the whole girlfriend treatment. I doubt she's going to push for you to consummate the thing for a while, so don't worry about that."
Kiriko's cheeks flashed red at the words coming out of the redhead's mouth but nodded along.
"Keep Leafa around, though…" He glanced towards Diavel. "What do you think about trying to get Asuna to move into a big-sis roll for Leafa?"
"Maybe…" The knight mused, crossing his arms across his metal armor. "It'd reinforce the family unit, which is usually the signs of a healthy relationship."
"I can't believe I'm doing this but that actually sounds good." Tiffany rubbed the bridge of her nose before pointing to Kiriko. "You need to tell your sister, as soon as possible, though! No surprises down the line!"
"Agreed." Diavel nodded.
"Wait, I'll tell her." Klein stated, getting the table's attention. "Just… take Asuna on a date to act like the honeymoon or something." He suggested.
Kiriko tapped her pursed lips in thought before nodding. "We were talking about what Asuna liked to do for hobbies before the… we got married." Her cheeks flushed prettily as she looked down to the thin wedding band on her hand. "I can take her to complete the unlock quests for our date."
"Not good enough!" Tiffany shook her head, sending her wavy hair curling around her head. "If you're going to do this, it needs to be the real thing. Nice clothes and a dinner are a must! Too many men screw up the first really important date of their relationship. Most of the time, it's the first anniversary but this one is literally THE most important one!"
"But… what do I do?! What do I wear?!" Kiriko panicked. "I've never been on a date before!"
"Don't worry." She sent off a message to her wife. "Kathy and I will handle it. All you'll have to worry about is making sure Asuna has the best honeymoon she can expect to have; what with the lack of movies and amusement parks."
"Hey, remember that outlook just west of the Town of Beginnings?" Diavel asked the panicking girl. "The one they added the benches and the entwined trees to?"
Blue eyes blinked in remembrance. "The first in-game marriage happened there, right?."
"Yeah, those players talked the devs into setting it up." Diavel nodded. "Take her out there. It's a great view anyways and if there are other couples out there, even better."
Taking a breath, Kiriko looked at the three friends trying to help her and Asuna. "Are you sure this will help her."
"We'll try our best but… you're the most likely to be able to help her, Kiriko." Diavel said gravely. "You're the one she's attached herself to, so even if we're her friends, you're her… husband? Wife?" He shrugged his shoulders at a loss.
"Wife." Klein decided, tapping the table. "Remember how she reacted about the kid being a guy. Any reminder is probably going to trigger that."
"Right… So… I'm her wife." Kiriko agreed, though she felt funny at the thought of being the WIFE in a marriage, let alone married so young!
Klein chuckled. "You may kiss the bride!"
"Which one?" Tiffany finished the joke with a grin after a second before letting a breath out. "If we're doing this, we only have one chance at it. And remember, this is no 'perfect', there's just 'good enough'. We're not trying to make Asuna who she was before, not only because we don't know who she was but because it's a fool's errand." She warned everyone present. "Kid… Kiriko, you have the final say in this. Are we doing it or not."
The raven-haired girl looked down at her hands, worrying the ring on her left with her right. The others stayed quiet as she thought about everything they just said, from the warnings, to the plans and… She looked up and blinked. "What is 'good enough'?"
That brought the others up short, each sharing a look and silent gestures. Eventually, Klein frowned and waved a hand towards Diavel and Tiffany. "Kid, that's not a call we can make."
"What?" She looked at the person she really was starting to look to as a big brother.
"Kid… She's YOUR wife." He tapped the ring on her finger in emphasis. "Fake or not, you're the one who has to live with whatever she becomes. So, the question is, what's 'good enough' for you?" He gripped her arm and gave her piercing look in the eye. "Remember, we're not changing her, we're helping her recover."
Klein pulled back and let the kid he was starting to see as a little brother really think about it. The other two gave him small nods and he returned it, taking a drink of water, feeling his buzz having dwindled to nothing, long ago.
"I want her to be strong!" Kiriko finally declared, looking up and at each adult seated with her. "I want her to make her own decisions and fight for herself and her dreams. If that's one with me in it… so be it but I don't want it to be because she can't survive without me."
"Then that's the goal we'll work towards." Diavel stated, shifting into his Knight personna, getting nods from the other two. "For now, we need to plan out their 'honeymoon' fully."
"I'll keep Leafa busy tomorrow and tell her about the plan and everything." Klein stated.
"I'll take Kiriko dress shopping tomorrow while Kathy will take Asuna." Tiffany pitched her part. "We'll shop different parts of the city so it'll be a surprise."
"I'll find the appropriate venue for the dinner and make reservations." Diavel declared his objectives.
"Uh… I'll find out what needs done for the Cooking quest?" Kiriko said only to blink at Klein's head shake.
"Nah, kid. I'll handle that. You're gonna be busy tomorrow. I'll send you the details after I get them." He told the girl, setting a full glass of clear liquid on the table before her. "Now slug that back and then go back to her."
She eyed the clear liquid. "Why?"
"Because you're at a bachelor party! You're supposed to smell like booze!" He laughed, grabbing her in a headlock and put the glass to her lips. "Now drink up, little bro!"
Forced to choose between drinking and drowning, she chugged as fast as she could before gasping and heaving for breath.
"Aw… they grow up so fast." Klein wiped away an imaginary tear.
"Worst… Aniki… ever!" She declared between breaths before letting out a loud belch. "Ugn… I'm going to bed."
The three adults said their goodnights between chuckles, calming down as the door closed behind the girl.
Klein sat down with a breath, pulling up the messenger application and starting to type something out. "So, what do you think our odds are?"
"Somewhere between 'Oh, God! What have we done?!' and 'This is okay.'." Diavel replied, completely serious in the face of what they faced.
"Let's hope we're closer to the latter end of the spectrum, yeah?" Tiffany said in response, running a hand through her hair in tired frustration. "We can set him up with a good start but it's really up to the kid to followthru on this."
"And this is why I called you guys." Klein said, sending his message off and waiting for the reply. "I'm no good with this crap. I was damn pleased with myself if I showed up for work on time and got C+'s on my tests."
"Maybe you just never had anything really push you to be the man you can be." Diavel posited.
"Oi! Keep your psychoanalyzing on the kid's wife! Fix her first, then practice on others, you quack!" He shot back with a grin, showing he was mostly joking. A message ping got his interest and he started reading, then nodding. He typed something else and sent a reply, getting one back almost immediately. "Alright, that's my good deed for the day done. Time to meet up with the guys and get them onboard this fiasco waiting to happen."
o0O0o
The raven-haired girl shook her head, stumbling into the wall that lined the hallway. "Stupid, Klein." She muttered, pushing herself upright and using the wall to steady herself. "Drink this!" She continued to mutter as the balance of the world shifted again, throwing her against the other wall.
Looking at the door number, she groaned and pushed her way down the hall some more. "Stupid…"
Reaching the right door, she fumbled the key before getting it into the lock and opening it with a clunk.
Stumbling into the room, she blinked at the lights already being on. She blinked again at seeing the girl seated on the edge of the large bed in her normal pajamas, a serene smile on her lips.
Her wife…
Kiriko swallowed, feeling her mouth suddenly go dry. "I'm back."
"Welcome home." Asuna replied, standing and walking towards her stunned spouse. Wrapping her arms around the lithe girl, Asuna laid her head on her wife's shoulder and inhaled, breathing in a mixture of sake and Kiriko on her nose. "I missed you."
"Ah… Sorry." Kiriko wrapped her arms loosely around Asuna's waist and tried to grin. "Klein wouldn't let me leave until I finished the last glass."
"You're here and that's all that matters, my Kiriko-chan." Asuna looked into those steely blue eyes and leaned in for a quick but meaningful kiss, stunning the black clad girl once more. Smiling, Asuna gently led her wife towards the bed. "Let's get some sleep."
END OF CHAPTER 7
o0O0o
A/N
Smaller chapter because it's dealing with the fallout of the end of the last one. I literally woke up at 1am this morning because my mind would not let me sleep with this not written. It's around 10am at time of posting and I'm gonna take a nap.
Yeah, things got a little dark but I put some hints in the earlier chapters. Unless I made a mistake somewhere, Asuna never disagrees with Kiriko and just follows along with anything ordered of her. This was planned to be a drama point, I just got to it early do the storyflow and the ending of the last chapter.
Speaking of the ending, needed that and this chapter to be separate to help prevent too much mood whiplash.
The players are also simi-aware of the side-effects of death and resurrection now. It's not going to ratchet things up to 'Death Game' level but it definitely prevents zerging bosses.
If you see a glaring error, send me a message and I'll fix it later. For now, I'm going back to bed.
