Chapter 10

"Um... Kazuto," Leafa said hesitantly, "are you... sure this is the quest start location?"

I double-checked my map, and then nodded. "Yeah, it's this forest," I said.

Ran frowned, her eyes scanning the forest surrounding us while Yuuki twisted and turned, using her whole body to look. "But, where's the trigger?" she asked, her confused voice echoing through the calm and peaceful trees. "We've been looking for a while. It's almost dark!"

I frowned, scratching at my head as we followed the dirt path through the forest. "Huh... Well, if it comes down to it, we can always search again tomorrow and start earlier," I offered. "It's not like we really have to be anywhere tomorrow..."

We really weren't on any sort of schedule or anything. The frenzy of boss clearing had slowed down a little bit since June, and the four of us had some of the highest levels among the Clearers, so we could spend time tracking down weird quests like this one.

We were down on one of the lower floors, Floor 23, in search of a rumor I'd heard being repeated around the main towns. Players weren't sure whether it was some super mob that spawned at the end of the quest, a trap in the forest itself, or even some sort of ghost, but whatever it was, it was dangerous. People had been disappearing; they'd head off into the forest, and then just never return, before their name would quietly be crossed off of the Monument of Life a few hours or days later.

Some of them were way overleveled for this floor, too, so I had no idea what could be causing it. When the Clearers had been through, there wasn't anything dangerous then... Argo contacted me and let me know about the quest that was supposed to be found in the forest, so my sisters and I came down to explore.

The only problem was, we'd been searching the forest all day and we still hadn't found the quest spawn point.

"At least the forest is empty," Ran said.

Yuuki sighed. "I know, it sucks," she moaned. "I can't even fight..."

I think the twins have different priorities...

"We should give up for today," I said finally after we spent another fifteen minutes combing the woods. "It's almost too dark to see."

"Okay~," my sisters chorused.

One of us, though, must have been putting skill points into the LUK stat without my knowledge, because as we started retracing our steps I stopped. Yuuki bumped into my back and made a cute little noise of complaint. "Big Bro..."

"Uh..." Ran peeked around my shoulder, and then said, "Oh! There it is!"

She was looking at the same thing that made me stop in my tracks; a piece of paper was pinned up against the tree, a golden question mark hovering over it to signal the start of the quest. It just looked... really familiar...

As the twins ran forward to the tree, I looked around nervously, my hand drifting towards my sword handle. It was reassuringly still over my shoulder. The forest surrounding us, though, was starting to seem ominous and even darker than before.

Leafa paused on her way to the tree, peering at me. "Kazuto? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"I..." I said slowly. "I hope not." It's just a coincidence... right?

Yuuki ripped the paper off of the tree as Leafa and I approached the twins, and she read it before her face scrunched up with confusion. "Always watches... no eyes?" she said, reading off of the paper. "And... what's up with this weird circle? There's a cross through it."

"No, no, no, no, no..." I started muttering, turning and looking at the trees around us.

"...What the hell?" Leafa said, staring at the paper in Yuuki's hand. "What kind of quest is this?"

"...Oh, there's a quest update..." Ran murmured. "'Find all 8 pages'? At least we have a clear goal. What's the quest rewa-"

"Ah!" Yuuki exclaimed. "They gave me a torch!"

"I get it," Leafa said, clapping her fist in her palm. "It must only spawn right before it gets dark! That makes sense why we couldn't find it earlier, right, Kirito?" she asked. "...Kirito? Is… something wrong?"

I sighed and turned to face them. "Hey, remember... not last August, but the one before that, when you came into my room and watched me play that one horror game?" I asked Leafa. "And how you got so scared you carried your lion stuffed animal around all day after that?"

Leafa tilted her head. "...Yeah, I think so," she said. "But what does that have to... do with..."

Her face paled as the implications sunk in. Her jaw moved, but she couldn't form words.

"Do you think they sell plushies in town, or will we have to get one custom ordered?" I asked helplessly. We just... We just had to run around, get the pages, and then get out. Then we'd be safe. "Yuuki, light the torch, okay?"

"Okay, Big Bro!" she chirped, setting the torch aflame. It cast a small circle of light around us, barely managing to illuminate the oppressive darkness.

Oh, we're so screwed...

...

The four of us - terrified and exhausted but alive, and with a... bizarre reward sitting in my inventory - stumbled back into town silently. We went back to our room without saying a word, and then just stood around in a loose circle with the lights on, staring at each other.

I was pretty sure I knew what all of us wanted to ask, but I didn't want to be the one to offer. Besides, I think I was still too busy dealing with my trauma to say anything.

"Um..." Yuuki said, her voice a little hoarse from the screaming and shouting earlier. "B-Big Bro? Can we sleep in your bed toni-"

"Yes," I said instantly and with relief in my voice.

Aiko whispered, "Thank you..." as she stared off into the distance. I'd had to lead her by the hand to keep her stumbling after us. If I didn't, she would have just been frozen in that forest by fear.

Sugu just let out a little whimper, her death grip on my left arm never wavering.

...At least we could tell Argo the cause of the mysterious disappearances. That was a bonus, I think. Maybe.

All I know is, I'm not ever going near that forest ever again. I'm going to have nightmares for weeks.

...

The next morning, I woke up feeling more relaxed than ever before. My pillow was softer than I was used to, in the inns. It was warm, too… I blinked blearily, confused by my pillow rising and falling gently and regularly, until my brain finally woke up.

Gah! I was sleeping on Sugu's b..b… on Sugu!

Hesitantly, I glanced to my right. Yuuki was curled up against me, hands lightly tugging on the shirt I slept in. Aiko wasn't anywhere to be seen, and I was very briefly confused until I realized my waist felt heavier than usual; when I peeked under the covers, Aiko was splayed out across my chest, her hair draping across both of us. Her head was resting on Sugu's side, while her legs were tangled up with Yuuki's.

Part of me just wanted to bask in this glorious warmth, but the larger part of me knew that I really had to get up before Aiko or bad things would inevitably happen. Hah... The price I pay...

"Hey, Big Bro?"

I swiped through my menu to check out the drops from the latest group of enemies. Meanwhile, off to the side, Ran and Leafa were tag-teaming another Saber Tiger, the most common enemy on the front lines of Floor 45. They were tiger-headed mobs that wore ratty leather armor and carried around curved swords; they weren't that much of a threat individually, but their Pack Call Skill could attract other Saber Tigers in the area.

"What's up, Yuuki?" I asked, counting the number of Tiger Tusks we'd collected. Huh... Only one more...

Yuuki tilted her head as she stared at her menu. "...This skill says I can use two swords. Is that weird?"

I stared at Yuuki, jaw dropped slightly and my finger frozen in midair mid-press.

A little notification rang as Ran and Leafa killed the mob they were fighting. Oh, hey, it dropped the last Tiger Tusk... Neat...

"Wait, sorry," I said. "I must have misheard you... Two swords?"

"Uh huh," Yuuki nodded. "See, look..." She swiped her menu over to me. I peered at it.

Dual Blades. 'A skill that allows one to attack using two swords simultaneously.' I glanced over the rest of the bonuses, and they were all geared towards attacking.

...Sure enough, this looked like something that would let Yuuki wield two swords at once. It probably even unlocked some new Sword Skills.

...But that didn't make sense!

My gamer's soul cried out in agony at the sheer unfairness of this Skill. I had no idea how Yuuki even unlocked the Skill in the first place! It couldn't be stats, since I was a higher level than my little sister, and we'd all done the same quests at the same time so it couldn't be a quest reward or anything like that.

That wasn't my only complaint. In the first place, what was the rationale behind giving something like two swords? It was as random as, uh... letting Leafa fly, or something equally crazy. And second, why only Yuuki? Why not the rest of us, too?

For an instant I was almost jealous of my little sister - until I saw her smiling up at me, proud of unlocking a new skill. I immediately felt ashamed of myself. "Well, it looks real," I said finally. "Do you have any idea how you unlocked it?"

"Nope," she said cheerfully. "Weird, huh?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "What'd Yuu do now?" Ran asked. It says something about my family that she immediately knew Yuuki had said or done something, just from watching me as she walked up to us.

"It's..." I just sighed again. "Go ahead and show them, Yuuki."

"Okay!"

After the other two were caught up on this sudden development, Ran folded her arms. "Trust you to come up with something troublesome, Yuu," she sighed.

"Hey!" Yuuki frowned. "Siiiiis... Don't make fun of meeee..."

Leafa giggled. "Always the troublemaker, Yuuki."

"Big Siiiiis..." she wailed.

I tried grilling Yuuki for a little bit longer, but she couldn't remember anything that might have triggered the unlock requirements for the skill. And I knew for a fact it wouldn't show up on any of the info brokers' Skill lists either, since I wouldn't have missed something like this showing up. In the end, I just sighed. "I'm not going to say not to use it, Yuuki," I told her, "but... maybe we should keep this secret for a while, okay?"

"Huh?" Yuuki asked, tilting her head. "Why?"

Ran frowned. "...Because you're worried the other Clearers will get jealous, right?"

Leafa blinked. "Why would they be jealous?"

I nodded at Ran. "You wouldn't realize it right away because you didn't play games before," I told Leafa, "but it's really easy for us gamers to get mad when someone shows up with a rare skill that they can't or won't share. And, with my reputation..."

"...They'll just assume it's something he won't share because he's a Beater, or maybe he hacked the game, that sort of thing," Ran continued. See, I knew she'd figured it out. I smiled at her, and she preened.

"That's kinda stupid," Leafa muttered. "It's not even his skill in the first place."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know, but it is what it is. Not much we can do about it."

Yuuki kicked at the ground. "Aw... and I really wanted to show off at the next boss fight," she muttered. "Everybody would have been super impressed..."

Laughing helplessly, I patted my younger sister on the head. "It's okay, Yuuki," I said. "We'll be super impressed for them, okay?"

Yuuki brightened up immediately. "Yeah, Big Bro! You'd better be impressed!"

Ran giggled. "He just said he would be, Yuu." After Yuuki stuck her tongue out and bonked her head sheepishly, she shook her head. "Only you... Well, are you going to show us?"

"Yeah!"

Yuuki was deadly enough with just one blade; with a second sword in her off-hand, she was tearing her way through the enemies almost effortlessly. Being able to use a second sword was a huge increase in the DPS she could unleash, and the passive buffs from the skill itself just pushed the user towards fighting aggressively, especially with the Sword Skill cooldown time decrease.

"Did you see, Big Bro?" she asked, bouncing up and down excitedly as she beamed at me. I swear I could see sparkles in her eyes. "Did you?"

"I did," I said weakly. Yuuki had managed to slide between two Bear Berserkers at the same time, passing through the legs of the closer one, but her blades flashed out as my little sister spun and rose from the slide. The Berserkers didn't even have the chance to do more than roar uselessly, their huge wooden clubs dropping from their hands as her blades cut the mobs in half.

Talk about risky. If she'd screwed up, she would have been frozen between them, unable to move... Well, that's why we were there with her as she practiced.

"I did notice something, though," I said as she ran up to us. "You weren't using your second sword much, were you?"

"Nope," Yuuki sighed, scowling at the plain metal sword in her hand like it'd personally offended her. "It's just not as good as the one you got for me, y'know? I know I get the bonuses, but it just doesn't do enough damage!"

I scratched my cheek. "Well... There's really not much we can do about that right now. Anyway, the boss fight should be coming up soon, so hang in there until we can get to the new floor, okay?"

Yuuki gave the sword one last frown, before smiling up at me. "Sure thing, Big Bro!"

...

It was a few months later that we finally got the chance to get Yuuki a second sword, one that could match her Nebula Cutter. I really wanted to get a better sword right away, but the Clearers went into overdrive as we reached the half-way point of the game; every week or two, we'd be clearing the next floor. We had to focus on raising our levels so that we wouldn't be in danger during the boss fights.

Finally, in early March, a particularly difficult Floor Boss meant that the Floor clearing was stalled for a few weeks, which gave us the perfect opportunity. "So this is Liz's new shop," I said thoughtfully as Yuuki and I looked up at the cozy-looking cottage. It sat on the edge of a river, with a small waterwheel in the back spinning lazily in the water. All in all, it looked nice.

"Let's go let's go let's go," Yuuki said, tugging on my hand. I laughed quietly and let her tug me forward.

As Yuuki pushed the door open, a bell rang. I looked around Liz's shop as we entered. The inside was like a trade fair of weapons, with swords, spears, daggers, and more decorating the walls. There were a few glass cases in the room, letting us see some more weapons in there. I looked at the counter, but Liz wasn't there. Must be in the back room.

The door to the back room opened, and Liz stepped out. "Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith oh it's you," she said, her practiced 'Welcoming customers' smile vanishing immediately. "Is Leafa with you?" she asked eagerly.

"No, it's just us," I said.

"Hi, Liz!" Yuuki chirped, waving with her free hand.

Liz sighed, some of her excitement draining out. "Well, I guess you're not a bad replacement," she said, winking at me. "What do you think of my new uniform? C'mon, be honest..."

I looked at Liz, taking in her new outfit. Instead of the brown leather apron she'd been wearing the first time we met her, when she was squatting on a Vendor's Carpet. "It's very... pink," I said, looking at her strange waitress-like uniform. "It doesn't exactly make you look like a blacksmith, though. I feel like you're supposed to be serving me a drink or something."

"Hey," Liz said flatly.

"No, it looks good," I said. She smiled, her cheeks going a little red. Yuuki glanced up at me. "Just... not what I imagined a blacksmith to look like."

Liz tugged at her skirt, and shifted. "It wasn't my idea," she said a little sullenly. "Asuna's the one who made me wear it. She said I'd attract more customers like this."

"Big Bro..." Yuuki murmured, lightly squeezing my hand.

"Sorry, I got distracted," I said to her. "Liz," I continued, "we're looking for another custom sword."

Liz grinned, planting her hands on her hips. "Then you've come to the right place!" she said firmly. "What's wrong, the other one getting outclassed?"

"Something like that," I said awkwardly, scratching my cheek. "It's more that we need another sword that'll hold up. It's nice to have a second weapon just in case, y'know?"

"Yeah, I gotcha," Liz said. "Leafa says stuff like that all the time. Dunno why she thinks so highly of you, though, Kirito."

"Because Big Bro is the coolest!" Yuuki said instantly and without the slightest hesitation, a wide smile on her face.

Liz grinned. "If you say so. Who knows, maybe I agree with you~," she said.

"Can... Can we just make the sword, please?"

Liz sighed. "Take the fun out of it, why don't you... Anyway, I'd love to make a sword for you, but I'm kiiiinda running low on good metal." She gestured over her shoulder with a thumb, and I realized she was pointing at a new sword. It looked very slender, and almost brittle. "I made Asuna a new rapier recently, and after making my masterpiece there, I don't have the Speed-type metal that works best for Yuuki's swords."

Grinning, I said, "I knew you couldn't handle me. You and your big mouth, huh?" Yuuki giggled, but Liz just started blushing as her eyes went distant. Weird. I scratched my cheek and coughed, snapping her out of whatever daydream she'd been having. "Um... Is there any way for us to get you more? I have some metal in my inventory, I think..."

Liz shook her head. "Nah, if I'm doing this I'm doing it right. I take pride in my work as a blacksmith. But you're in luck..."

She told us all about the rumor of a special metal ingot that could be found on a mountain on the 55th Floor. When Yuuki and I exchanged a glance and said we could handle it - we were both just over level 70, more than high enough for a quest on Floor 55 - Liz shook her head and insisted that she had to come with us or the metal wouldn't spawn. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was as determined and fired up as ever, so in the end she tagged along with us.

We almost got in a lot of trouble when a dragon at the top of the mountain attacked and knocked us into a crystal trap pit, but it was okay; we survived the fall and spent the night in the pit, but we escaped the next morning by pulling off an insane stunt and riding the dragon up. I had to carry Liz on my shoulder while Yuuki clung to my back like a monkey, her arms firmly around my neck and her legs around my waist, but we made it out. And as a bonus, we even got the metal ingot! ...Though, it turned out to be dragon poop.

It was kinda adorable, watching Yuuki scrunch her nose up as she tried to figure out if she really wanted this new sword to be made out of dragon poop, even if it was going to be one of the strongest swords she had.

The instant I walked into the inn room my sisters and I were staying in, I was tackle-hugged by my other two sisters onto the bed. "Kazuto!" Sugu wailed, burying her face in my shirt. "I was so worried!"

Aiko wasn't much better. "Where were you two?!" she gasped, clutching my arm tightly. It felt like I was going to have an Aiko-shaped accessory for the rest of the day, with how tight she was holding me. "When you didn't come home last night... I didn't..."

"It's okay," I said, patting Aiko's head while letting Sugu cling to me. Behind me, Yuuki giggled before flopping down and joining the hug pile. "Sorry to worry you. A quest ran long, so Yuuki and I had to spend the night in a dungeon."

"It was a lot of fun, sleeping with Big Bro!" Yuuki chirped.

I felt the other two stiffen, and Aiko looked up at me. "What's Yuu talking about, Big Brother?" she asked, almost deceptively calmly. "Did you two -"

"No!" I yelped, my face burning. "Nothing happened! We just spent the night!"

Sugu peered at Yuuki. "She's glowing," she said to Aiko. I'm… pretty sure that wasn't literal…

Aiko nodded. "I bet they shared a bed," the older twin muttered. "Not fair..."

"A-Anyway," I coughed, trying to distract the other two, "Liz did a good job with the sword, right, Yuuki?"

"Yeah!" Yuuki said, bouncing up and down. Because she was hugging me from behind, I felt... strange things on my back. "It looks really cool!"

She swiped open her menu and pulled out the sword. "It's called Dark Repulser," I said to my sisters who were looking at it curiously.

The sword was slender and a deep aquamarine color. The blade itself was slightly transparent, but only a little bit, and the grip was a slightly darker color than the rest of the sword. The crossguard of the sword looked kinda like crossed daggers, and the center of the crossguard held a large polished gem the same color as the blade. The part of the blade that connected to the crossguard was indented a bit, after which point the blade was straight until the very end, where it flared a bit. All in all, it looked like a sword made out of crystal rather than metal, which was a really cool effect.

It was just a little smaller than my Elucidator, which meant it fit Yuuki's preferences perfectly. As much as I teased Liz, she did a really good job when it came to our swords.

"Cool..." Sugu breathed.

Aiko took a few seconds to peer at the blade, and then looked up at me with a smirk. "So, Kazuto," she said, "this is the second time you've given Yuu a sword... Does this mean she's the favorite in your heart?"

"Guh..." I grunted. A Sneak Attack when I wasn't expecting it… My little sister was truly devious!

Aiko giggled mischievously. "That's okay," she said, playfully pressing her palm against my chest. "There's a different sword I want from you..."

"Ah?" Sugu said, grabbing my arm and pressing it to her chest. It was really soft. I swallowed. "That's... moving kinda fast, Aiko..."

"I'm okay with sharing Big Bro," Yuuki announced to everyone. "Ah! But only with you, nobody else!"

I looked at all three of them. Sugu was blushing and refused to meet my eyes, while Aiko was giving me a cat-like smile. Yuuki was just smiling at me innocently, adoration in her eyes. In the end, I sighed. "Let's just... go get something to eat," I said.

Honestly... my family was insane... But at least I was kinda used to it, at this point.

Hah… Is it really a surprise that Kirito will get into random shenanigans with his sisters at this point?

The first bit was a little fun I got to have with the siblings. Anyone that read One Punch Gamer (it's real good y'all should go read it) should recognize the scene; unfortunately I didn't get to have Best Girl with Kirito in the forest, but this isn't about Argo (unfortunately…). Consider the totally not blatant stealing of ideas a little nod of appreciation? Honestly, it gave me the idea and it was too perfect to give up, so I rolled with it. The basic idea went 'Get Kirito in bed with girls for innocent sleeping times' - 'they're all scared because of scary quest' - 'oh shit the only horror game I know that's useable is slender, I don't want to use that but it's the best one gods damn it' - 'fuck it, if I'm gonna do this, full on stealing the idea!' So, uh, blame my lack of horror game experience? Meh…

The second bit is the reason I introduced Liz last chapter, honestly. Pretty much entirely for getting Yuuki a sword, and for giving Leafa an admirer (yes i know, but just play along. liz is into boys and girls in this, but has a huge crush on sugu.) slash friend. Plus, I needed to give Dual Blades to Yuuki.

Alright, before people get salty about Dual Blades in the reviews: just don't. full stop. Ahem.

So, the reason I gave Dual Blades to Yuuki is dual-fold. One, Kirito hasn't spent several months doing nothing but grinding non-stop. I figure part of that, where he was pushing himself further and harder than anyone else, probably helped out his reaction times a bit. (fun fact, you can train your reaction speed.) Since he isn't/didn't go crazy trying to rez Sachi, he doesn't have that little boost.

Two, Yuuki's in there with him. Now, this is the part where people will probably get salty. I know that a large part of why she had faster reflexes than him was because she'd spent three years Diving almost daily. However, she's doing the same here; it's only been a year instead of the three, but she's trying her best to impress her Big Bro so she's trying extra hard. Just, uh, chalk it up to Yuuki going beyond the impossible because anime.

(don't take my pre-emptive anti-salt personally if you think I should have given Kazuto Dual Blades instead. Just, these are my reasons why Yuuki got it. Also because I didn't want to give Kazuto his super special skill when he's not super-edgy-loner-guy this time around.)

Many thanks for everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.