Chapter 9: Food

Kirito devoured his third sandwich in four bites, while Asuna was only halfway through her second. "Wow," Asuna commented, watching Kirito start on his fourth. The sandwiches were of all different kinds, a result of Kirito telling the NPC shopkeeper: "One of everything!" when they had stopped by the sandwich store. Asuna was currently eating a classic ham sandwich, while Kirito was starting on a sandwich filled with peppers.

"I don't understand how you're not hungry; we haven't eaten since yesterday morning." Kirito took a break from eating for a full ten seconds to speak before resuming.

"I am hungry," Asuna replied. "I just prefer to not risk a choking-hazard by inhaling my food. Wait, is that possible?" Her last question was more inquisitive than worried, being convinced at this point that Kirito was a human vacuum.

"Dunno," was the reply.

Walking back to their hotel room, sandwich basket in hand, Asuna spotted a NPC store selling fruit, and was suddenly reminded of something she meant to do. "Kirito, let's go shopping!" Asuna looked at Kirito excitedly, but Kirito met her look with confusion.

"Shopping? What for? We'll need a player-smith to upgrade our weapons further, there are no armor shops in this town, and we have enough potions already; it's not like we have to use them often."

Asuna laughed when she realized Kirito was being completely serious. "Is that all you ever think about? Let's buy some ingredients for food!"

Kirito was only more confused. "But we just ate sandwiches, and we have more right there," he pointed to the sandwich basket he was holding. "Why do we need to eat again?"

"You can't just eat out forever you know," Asuna looked at Kirito as if she had told him something rather obvious. "So let's buy some ingredients, and have some food to make on our own!"

Kirito looked at Asuna gain, who looked excited. "Alright, whatever. Let's go shopping, I guess." Kirito let out a defeated sigh.

Asuna took off faster than Kirito could follow; she still had the +3 Agility bonus, and Kirito was carrying a sandwich basket that gave him a movement speed penalty. Kirito soon stopped trying to race after her, and instead kept a list in his head of all the things she bought before they disappeared into her inventory. Bread, sliced meat (turkey, ham, and something he didn't know), cheese (three different kinds that he couldn't tell the difference between), sauces (a lot of different sauced), tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, and, finding a utility shop, some knives. Sandwiches, Kirito realized.

Asuna returned to Kirito, who was standing in the middle of the street. "I did some reading a while ago, and learned that making sandwiches raises the 'Cooking' skill, and there's no luck or skill requirement," Asuna explained. "It's perfect to raise 'Cooking'!"

"I'm not really interested in 'Cooking', so I'll leave all the sandwich-making to you," Kirito proclaimed.

Asuna laughed. "So you're going to leave me to be the chef then?"

Kirito smiled playfully. "Sounds good!"

[Time Break]

Kirito was fast asleep on his hotel bed. When the two had returned to their hotel room, Asuna had claimed the entirety of the table to practice making a sandwich, "Just to see what the cooking engine in SAO is like," she had said. Kirito had insisted on testing the blankets on his bed, "Just to see what the comfort engine in SAO is like," he had said.

So while Asuna made sandwiches, she studied the napping figure of Kirito. She saw his gently face breathe in and out slowly, and his chest rise and fall accordingly. His hair was just the same as ever, but Asuna knew that the system had put hair in a manipulated variable condition, meaning it could be changed. His hair must be pretty stubborn, she decided.

Asuna had cleared the table, and was now scrolling through her inventory in search of one particular item: 'Bread'. Eventually, Asuna found the 'Bread' and tapped on it, causing a large loaf of bread to materialize on the table in front of Asuna. Scrolling further, she found 'Knife' and tapped on that, causing a knife to materialize in her hand. She tapped the bread with the knife and was surprised when the loaf of bread transformed into evenly cut pieces of bread, with a cut lengthwise first; perfect for a sandwich.

Taking two pieces of the bread, Asuna put them to the side, intending to make her sandwich with these pieces. A small '+' appeared above the slices of bread, which Asuna tapped. Doing so opened up Asuna's inventory, showing all the ingredients that she had in her inventory. Tapping on all the ingredients she wanted, Asuna made her sandwich. She put the rest of the ingredients into a small fridge that the hotel room came with next to the table, and the bread in the cupboard.

Kirito started to stir. First rolling over until he was on his back, Kirito slowly say up and started stretching his arms and yawning. Asuna watched for ten seconds before his yawn ended and he opened his eyes. "Have a nice nap?" She asked teasingly.

A groggy but cheerful response was heard in reply, "The comfort engine is pretty good." Kirito slid out of bed and spotted the sandwich Asuna had made, mistaking it for one of the store-bought ones. "I thought you were going to make your own sandwich."

Asuna gestured to the sandwich in front of her, confused. "I did."

Kirito squinted at the sandwich. "Wait… so that's not one of the sandwiches we bought?" Kirito was confused and still a little sleepy.

"Nope," Asuna replied cheerily, happy that her sandwich had apparently turned out all right visually. Now for the taste test, she thought. She picked up the sandwich and bit into it, before hastily putting it back on the table and rushing to the sink, turning it on and holding her mouth open below the running water.

Kirito laughed at the sudden development. "That's all right," he consoled. "I probably couldn't make a decent sandwich if I tried."

Asuna, after turned the sink off, felt able to speak again. "No it's not that its bad… I think." Asuna's face was red and she looked exhausted. "I think I put too much hot sauce in; I wanted it to have some kick. You can try it if you like and let me know if it's good or not." She turned the sink back on and resumed soothing her tongue.

Kirito examined the sandwich and its ingredients carefully, before deciding that the sandwich looked sound. Lifting up the sandwich and taking a bite, Asuna turned the sink off and watched, anxious of his verdict. Kirito chewed on the sandwich slowly, apparently unaffected by the hot sauce. "It's…" he paused, pondering his next word. "Amazing!" With that comment Kirito dug into the sandwich, devouring the rest of it in a mere three bites.

Asuna was astonished; she had definitely put too much hot sauce in. Her voice was soft and unsure when she asked: "Really?"

Kirito looked her in the eyes, a serious look on his face, and said: "That was easily the best sandwich I've ever had. And there was just the right amount of hot sauce." Asuna's face broke into a smile and her eyes lit up; her sandwich was a success. "You should make more of those," Kirito said.

Asuna blushed and hid her face in response, but Kirito hadn't noticed, he was busy looking for a clock in the hotel room. "Hey, how long was I asleep for?" Kirito asked, unable to find a clock. He walked over to the one window at the end of the room, trying to identify the time of day.

"I don't know, maybe… 10 minutes? It was really short." Asuna thought that was about right.

"Hm." The thoughtful response came from Kirito as he continued to stare out of the window. Asuna looked at him quizzically. Still staring out of the window, he finally responded with real words. "Do you want to find a 'Quest'?"

Asuna stared at him as if he had gone crazy, which Kirito noticed in her voice instead, as he wasn't looking at her. "What?! We just got back from a 'Quest" after spending the night outside a cave, and then you got into a fight with someone, and now that we've just gotten back, you want to leave on another 'Quest'?!"

"No, it's nothing like that!" Kirito quickly reassured. He had turned away from the window in order to explain to Asuna directly. "Some 'Quests' are infinite, and can keep being done as long as it's by different players, but most of the 'Quests' are only available once. Once a one-time 'Quest' has been accepted, no one else can accept it. The 'Quests' will never run out, since the system can keep making new ones on its own, but it takes a while. Now that people are arriving in this town, maybe we should go accept a 'Quest' or two before they're all taken."

"So we won't actually do them yet?" Asuna clarified, sounding slightly dangerous.

"No," Kirito affirmed. "But we will have to do them soon, probably tomorrow. In order to keep it fair, one-time 'Quests' have a time-limit on them that ensures that you don't just go around accepting a ton of 'Quests' and then trying to get them all done whenever you want to. The time limit depends on the 'Quest', but accepting three or four at once is about the max before it gets hard to do them all in time."

"So we'll go accept some 'Quests', come back here, sleep, and then do them tomorrow, right? I need to be sure I'm sleeping in this hotel room tonight." Asuna's voice was serious and dangerous; she was getting her sleep in a real bed tonight.

"Yes," Kirito affirmed again. "That is exactly the plan."