Chapter 20 - Respite

August 6, 2024

I slowly blinked myself awake, turning away as the bright morning sunlight was stinging my half-asleep eyes. I sat up and held my face with my hands as I stirred. I could still feel a slight pang of stress, but my mind felt mostly clear.

I sighed and looked around the room. There's Pina sleeping on the desk...and Silica was sleeping on a Sleeping Mat.

I smiled as I watched her a bit. The reverse of the first time we met.

I nodded before I looked away and opened my Player Menu. I saw that my Quests tab had a notification. Huh...weird...I didn't accept or go through a quest recently...hmm…

I saw that there was a new quest that popped up. I clicked on it and skimmed the details. An invitation to a fireworks festival on the 30th Floor.

A fireworks festival? I wonder how I got the requirements for this quest. Is it because I own a house there? Hmm...

Well, I'll take a good look at this later.

I closed my Player Menu and laid back down, crossing my arms behind my head.

I spotted movement from the edges of my vision. I turned my side and saw that Pina was stretching her wings and yawning. She turned her head to my direction. "Good morning, Pina." I said to her.

She craned her head to the side before flapping her wings and flying towards me. She landed on the bed and crawled to my chest before she curled up and slept.

I shrugged. I guess we're doing this now.

We stayed like that for a bit more. I don't feel like moving when I've got a little critter sleeping on my chest and purring up a storm. And...man...she's actually kneading me.

After a few minutes, I heard rustling from the side. "Mn~" I heard Silica sit up and stretch. I was planning on opening my eyes and greeting her, but Pina purring while sleeping on my chest was making me too comfortable.

"Ah! Pina, you're so unfair…" Silica whispered. She probably turned this way and saw Pina...wait, unfair? "It's just like last time. He's not a pillow, you know!"

Pina replied by nuzzling on my chest as she purred comfortably.

"Geez…" I heard footsteps coming closer. Silica must be walking towards me.

I opened my eyes ever so slightly and looked at Silica. She was hunched down near the bed and glancing disapprovingly at Pina before turning her head to look at me.

…why am I pretending to be asleep?

I tensed up when Silica placed her hand on my head and patted it. It felt really pleasant. I wonder if this how she felt when I was patting her head.

I let this continue for a couple of minutes before I flickered my eyes and stirred, acting like I just woke up. Silica gasped audibly and quickly backed away. "Ngh…" I slowly rubbed my eyes.

"G-good morning!" Silica said.

"Mn...good morning…" I muttered. I could hear her very quickly storing something into her inventory, likely the Sleeping Mat. Pina came to and flew away from me. I sat up on the side of the bed as I stretched.

Sure, I could just lay in bed and let Silica pet me for who knows how long, but she's probably got something better to do other than pampering me.

And...how do you say it...it's a bit...embarrassing…

...

Only a bit, though.

SIlica turned back and looked at me. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

I sighed. "Feeling good so far." I rubbed my stomach. "Breakfast wouldn't hurt, though." I said as I stood up. "I guess I'll make something to eat."

"I can cook breakfast for us." She offered.

I shook my head. "You already cooked our dinner yesterday. It's my turn, okay?"

She nodded back.

We went downstairs and I made a bacon and egg sandwich. In quite the contrast to yesterday evening, the mood was pretty warm. Silica was happily munching down on the food I made while commenting about how good it was.

"Kyururu…" Pina walked towards me and handed me a piece of peanut. I smiled as I took it and flicked it to the air before I caught it with my mouth. "Kyuruu!" Pina made a happy sound as she walked back towards her peanut bowl.

I reached over and pulled a peanut from her bowl. "Hey, buddy. See this?" I said to her as I wagged the peanut near her.

"Kyuru?" Pina crooned quizzically.

"Catch!" I lobbed it upwards.

"Kyururu!" With one fluid motion, Pina soared into the air and caught the peanut with her mouth while doing a somersault before landing on the ground feet-first.

"Noice!" I cheered.

"Kyuru!" Pina huffed and made a dignified posture, wordlessly saying 'I'm so awesome'.

"You and Pina really get along together." Silica remarked.

"We do?" I asked.

"In SAO, Tamed Monsters would only eat when personally fed by their owners. Even if they found their favorite food in the Field right in front of them, they would ignore them. They also wouldn't tell you that they're hungry. A hidden affinity meter will fall when their owner forgets to feed them, and the familiar would cease to be Tamed and would run away if that meter falls too low for too long."

"Heeh…" I replied. "I didn't know that."

"That's why I always have ample supply of her food with me at all times, and I set an alarm to periodically remind me to feed her." She leaned in a bit. "And yet...you're able to feed her and be this friendly with her. My guess is that it's because she knows that you're the one who saved her life. Her life...but also, her master's as well." She smiled as she looked at me.

I returned her smile. "Thank you." I muttered. Her smile widened a bit and she giggled softly.

"Kyuru! Kyururu!" Our little heart-to-heart was interrupted by Pina as she fervently spun around and chased her tail.

I glanced at Silica. "I didn't notice it yesterday, but your hairstyle looks good on you."

"Thank you." She giggled. Her hair ornaments were gone and her hair flowed freely. The Radiant Hairclip that we found a few months ago was clipped on her side. "The twintails were a bit childish...and...um, er...y-you said that I...look prettier when my hair is down…" She ended her statement with a whisper, but I heard her.

I scratched my face and looked away. "To be fair, you look pretty, regardless of whatever hairstyle you have." I said, trying hard not to blush.

"I see..thanks...hehe…" She mumbled softly.

We spent the next few minutes finishing up our breakfast. The food turned out to be pretty good.

I took the dishes away and washed them. "I got this, so just go through your morning routine or something."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

After that exchange, we went to do our own thing. After I finished cleaning, I sat on the living room sofa and played with Pina as I waited for Silica.

Eventually, she came to the living room, wearing her usual outdoor clothing. "So, what are your plans for today?"

I shrugged. "Nothing really planned...oh, that's right." I clapped my hands as I remembered something. I opened my Player Menu and selected the Quests tab. "There's this quest I got. Wanna have a look?" She nodded, and I sent her the quest info.

"Heeh...a fireworks festival, huh? Sounds fun. Can I come with you?"

"Of course, but don't you have plans for today?"

She smiled. "They can wait."

We teleported to the 30th Floor's main city, Aurelia. The city was slightly covered with snow, but the temperature was only a bit chilly. The NPCs on the Floor said that the sky was enchanted - snow fell often during the night, and the snow would stay at a set time before melting into air, regardless of how hot the day was. It didn't melt into water or ice. Makes for a pretty view.

"Are you cold?" I asked her. I've told her to wear something warm, but she wanted to go to the Floor first.

She shook her head. "I've upgraded my equipment to be resistant to heat or cold."

I nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

We went to the quest marker which was directing us to the city centre.

We found an NPC. He explained that the festival starts one hour after sunset - about 8 PM.

"So, twelve hours before the fireworks, huh? Got any ideas to spend the time?" I said as I turned behind me to face Silica.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we check out those stalls?" She asked excitedly. I shrugged and nodded. The city centre's normally pretty empty, but now there were stalls everywhere. The stalls' designs were mostly Western, but there were some Japanese-styled stalls scattered here and there. It felt like a matsuri...well, except for the snow, that is.

Silica went over to one of the stalls. "Wah~" She exclaimed. There's a stall that was selling all kinds of masks, from typical Japanese masks to sentai masks to even SAO's unique masquerade-styled masks. Doesn't give any significant boosts in stats, but they're pretty well-made. Pretty cheap, too.

We bought a couple of masks before we moved on. A lot of stuff there. Carnival games, food stalls...

I started getting a bit tired after some time perusing the stalls. It's a bit weird. I could stand solo hunting all day and night, but put me in a place where there's a lot of people around and I'll need a time out after like two hours.

I turned to look at Silica. "I'm a bit worn out. I'll just take a quick break on one of those benches."

"I'll come with you." She nodded.

We went to a relatively quiet place on the edge of the centre. I sat on the bench and sighed. "I just need a few minutes to recharge...phew…"

Silica took a seat beside me. "It's fine. Take your time."

I sat there and made myself comfortable. Silica was opening one of the mystery bags she bought.

"Oh yeah." Silica spoke up. "You wanna hear a neat quiz?"

I shrugged. "I'm listening."

"Alright, here goes." She took a deep breath. "My name comes after Arumi, but before Rin." She said.

I looked at her. "Wait, your real name?"

"Yup."

"Hmm…"

"You don't have to answer right away. Just think about it for a little bit, okay?"

I nodded. "Alright." I checked the time. Only a bit before noon. "Wanna go for lunch? I know a place." I said to her. She nodded.

***
Loading...Complete
***

We went to a restaurant near the edges of the city. It's a bit far from the Teleport Gate and the city centre, but it's got some good things going for it. For one, since it's ways away from the busy parts of the city, there's always space for customers. Also, the pizza's really good.

As we were eating pizza, Silica looked at me. "Hey Riwet, your house is on this Floor, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, it is." I replied.

"...can I come over?"

"...sure."

After that, we finished eating and went out of the restaurant. "Follow me."

The one thing I really liked about this establishment was that it was pretty close to my house.

"We're here." I said, stopping in front of one of the houses. I unlocked the front door and opened it. "Come in."

"Sorry for intruding~" She said as she came in.

My house looked pretty small on the outside, but it felt bigger when you're actually inside. It was a bungalow-styled house with a pretty vacant attic, which I used for storing stuff. The first floor had a living room, an adjacent dining table, a master's bedroom with its own small bathroom, a bathroom, and a pretty vacant room that I kept empty.

I observed Silica as she looked around. Pina made herself comfortable as she laid on the living room sofa.

"It's pretty plain, I know." I admitted. "I just use this place for rest and storage, so I keep it simple."

"Heeeh…" She hummed as she continued snooping. Something caught her eyes, and she moved towards it.

I walked closer to her. "That's my picture wall. SAO's got some pretty scenes." I explained. I pointed at the various pictures I had. The Starting City on the 1st Floor, the Great Savanna on the 2nd Floor, Floria, the mountaintop on the 55th Floor, and so much more...all memorable stuff that I captured with my handy Screen Shot Camera Crystal.

"They all look so pretty." She remarked.

I nodded in agreement before an idea popped up in my head. "Speaking of pretty scenes...I've got one in mind."

***
Loading...Complete
***

"This is my little spot." I remarked as I sat on one of the benches nearby.

"So pretty..." She remarked as she sat next to me. Pina landed on the arm of the bench and looked at the scenery.

"The fireworks are gonna start in one hour, but I wanna show you how this place looks when the sun is setting." I explained. We were at an overlook with a clear view of Aurelia. In between the overlook and Aurelia was Lake Aurelia. The lake's deep blue color glimmered into scarlet as the sun was setting.

Those mountains were beautiful. They had lush forests in their bodies but their peaks were made out of stone.

As the sun was setting, it was slowly covering the mountains with darkness, starting from the bottom and slowly working its way towards the top. The mountains gave one last bright glimmer for the day before the sky darkened.

"I don't get to watch the sunset pretty often. Too preoccupied with frontline stuff. " I admitted. "But for me, nothing beats the view."

"Thank you for sharing this place with me. That was beautiful." She replied

"Don't mention it. And I realized that this is the perfect place to view the fireworks, So let's look forward to that." I explained. "Oh, yeah. I figured out your quiz about your real name. Well...most of it, I guess."

"Really?"

"Yeah...I narrowed it down to two names - Kei or Rika." I said.

Can you explain how did you come to that conclusion?" She asked.

"The second name, Rika, is pretty explanatory. Just take 'Shi' out." I shrugged. The Japanese pronunciation of Silica is Shirika, so take Shi out and you've got Rika.

Silica smiled, not giving anything away. "And the first one?"

"Kei is based on your hints. Arumi is most likely Aluminum, but I'm not completely sure. But what I'm completely sure about is that Rin means phosphorus." I elaborated. "And then it hit me. Silica sounds like Silicon. The Japanese of Silicon is Keiso, so your name's Keiso, or Kei plus...something."

Silica finally giggled. "You're right. Kei is part of my name."

Alright. "Are either of your parents chemists?"

She shook her head. "My grandfather's a chemist. My dad was born on February 6. 2/6. Iron (tetsu) has an atomic number of 26, so my grandfather named him Tetsuhiko. My dad isn't really into the sciences and prefers arts and literature, but he wanted to carry on the naming trend. When I was born on October 4, 10/4, he tried to name me after Rutherfordium, the element with the atomic number of 104."

I pursed my lips. "I assume he had some difficulty doing that?" I asked. Also, she didn't realize that she just dropped her birthday, just like that.

Silica nodded. "No matter what he tried, he couldn't get a girl's name out of it, so he resorted to adding 10 and 4 to make 14. Silicon's atomic number is 14, and he came up with the name Keiko."

"And 'Silica' obviously came from Silicon." I pointed out.

She nodded. "I felt that 'Silico' was too weird to be a name."

"Clearly, you haven't met QweQwe-san yet." I said to her.

"...eh?" She looked at me.

"...I'm kidding." I smirked.

She pouted before continuing. "...Anyways, that was also the reason why I had my twintails. The hair ornaments that I used to wear symbolizes the O atoms, making SiO2 - Silicon. I realized that my eyes can be the ones representing the O atoms, so I'm free to change my hair to whatever style I want."

"Heeeh~ So, not only did you tell me a pretty interesting story, you also gave me your name and your birthday."

"...eh?...ah!" She gasped as her face reddened. She did her trademark maneuver, which is to meekly hang her head down a bit and look up, peering at me from between her bangs. She also held her hands close to her body, making her look a bit smaller. I don't like making her feel anxious or troubled, but that gesture is just so damn endearing. "Ah...um…"

"Heh…" I chuckled. "While we're on the subject of names…" I smirked as I figured out something that'll interest her and snap her out of her embarrassed state. "My name comes after Keiso."

She tilted her head before her eyes lit up excitedly. "Rin?!"

I smiled "Yup."

"T-then, your birthday's on October 15?!"

I shook my head. "Nope. It's on October 24. As for my name, I got an even stranger origin for that. Rin is actually the Japanese pronunciation of my name."

"...Japanese pronunciation?" She asked.

I nodded. "My birth name is Lynn, but I've been Rin for five...six years now. You even spell them the same way in Katakana."

"But...you don't look like a foreigner..."

I shrugged. "Half-foreigner. Japanese dad, Canadian mother. Anyways, they wanted a name that would be relatively easy to pronounce, both in English and Japanese. Helps that my dad's name is Rinnosuke and my mom's name is Linda."

"Heeeh~... So where did 'Riwet' come from?" Silica asked, curiosity present in her tone as she leaned in. "That is...if you don't mind me asking…" She added. Yeah, not really convincing when your face is screaming 'please tell me~'.

"Well…" I started and sighed.

***
Start Flashback
***

November 6, 2022

Character Creation

Here I am, in front of a virtual display. My avatar stood in front of me.

I've spent the last couple of minutes customizing my character. It didn't take long because the default options were pretty decent.

However, a very important decision laid in front of me.

Please select your name

Hmm...what's a good name? It's I don't wanna write my own name...hmm…

*5 minutes later

I can't, for the life of me, figure out what my name should be. Riku? Taken. Rico? Taken. Aaaa? Taken. Tekken? Taken. Liam?...Free to use, but uh...nah…

…

Ri...Ri…

Ri...

*10 minutes la-

"Ri...Ri...RIIYAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed in frustration as I slammed my left hand on the virtual keypad. My ring finger, middle finger, and forefinger made contact with the virtual keys, adding three more letters to R and i.

Riwet

…

Meh. It'll do.

***
End Flashback
***

"Hehe…" Silica giggled.

I shrugged. "Yeah. A bit different from your story, but uhh... it is what it is." My throat was a bit parched, so I materialized two flasks of root beer. "Want one?"

She gave me a weird look. "You still have those? I thought that you would've finished your barrel by now."

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, that's it. I totally have some stock from the time we went there. I totally didn't go back there and fill...I dunno...two...twenty?...top-quality barrels to store them and make sure that they're in mint condition." I smiled.

Silica shook her head incredulously. "Seriously?" She asked.

"I was lying about the number of barrels." I admitted. She made an 'I'm relieved that you're not that crazy' face. "I actually filled fifty barrels." I smirked and chuckled.

She shook her head and threw her arms in exasperation. "You have a problem."

"Hmph." I scoffed. "It's only a problem if you think that it is."

"Pretty sure that that isn't how it works…" She muttered before she gave up and sighed. "I'll have one."

I handed one to her. I opened my flask and raised it. "Cheers."

"Cheers." She clinked her flask with mine and we drank the root beer.

With that, we silently stared at the evening scene. I glanced at her. She seemed to be in a good mood. The fireworks were starting any time now.

***
Cue Music: CHON - Fluffy
***

"Hey...thank you...for yesterday... and also for today. It was really fun...hanging out with you..." I finally said. She nodded with an unexpectedly mirthless smile. I cocked my head. "Silica?"

She started with a sigh. "It's...just...you've been through something horrible...and all I could do is stay with you. I can't give you any advice...I don't understand what you're going through...When I lost Pina, you knew how to bring her back, and you encouraged me...but now, when you're the one suffering, I can't do anything...really, I feel so useless…" She fretted.

I shook my head. "What are you talking about? You've done a lot for me already when you decided to comfort me, even when you know what I did." I sighed.

She smiled. "You were there to comfort me, even though it was my fault that my beloved familiar died. Even if I can't do much, I'll do what I can to return the favor to you…" She continued in a hushed voice. "...and also...I don't like it when someone important to me is suffering alone…"

"I see…"

I calmed myself down and steeled my nerves.

Okay, breathe in...breathe out…

Here goes.

"I...I like…I love you...very much…" I finally squeaked out.

Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "Ah…!" She made a muffled sound. Then, she made the brightest smile as her eyes glimmered. "I...me too. I...I love you too!" She shouted.

As if on cue, the first batch of fireworks went up and exploded, coating the clear night sky with vivid flashes of color. The scene was breathtaking.

"Wah~" She gasped. "It's so pretty~"

"Yeah...yeah, they are." I replied. My heart was pounding, and I was out of breath...but I felt so...happy.

I inched closer towards her. She turned to look at me, and I looked away from her face, too nervous to look at her in the eyes. She also started inching very slowly towards me.

We tensed up when we got close enough that our shoulders touched, but we quickly relaxed. I reached out and held her hand, and she held it. After a few moments, she slowly leaned her body towards me and rested her head on my shoulder.

I started chuckling. "Man, that was nerve-wracking." I said as I reached out with my other hand and patted her hair.

She also giggled. "Yeah. I felt like my heart was about to burst."

"Likewise…"

A few minutes of silence, I spoke up again. "Just like always, I'll try and take some time off from the front lines to help you train, but I can take a bit more time off so we can hang out with each other. Sounds good?" I said.

Silica nodded. "I'll be strong enough to be a Clearer soon, so stay safe...until I can protect you." She whispered.

"That's nice and all, but I'll be the one protecting you." I replied.

"No, I will."

"No, me."

"No, me!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...pfft. Hehe." She started giggling. I chuckled with her.

"Let's compromise on just protecting each other, yeah?" I finally suggested.

Silica wordlessly nodded with a confident, caring smile.

"Kyuru!" Pina flew off from the side of the bench and laid on Silica's lap.

We looked at her and chuckled.

I found myself looking at her face. She looked up, and our eyes met. I couldn't look away from her.

"..." She slowly closed her eyes and stuck her chin out.

"..." I hesitated for a moment before I leaned in and kissed her.

We broke away, and I felt lightheaded. We turned our attention back to the fireworks, too embarrassed to look at each other.

After a few minutes, I turned to look at her. "...Silica?"

She turned to look at me. "What is it?"

I smiled. "I'm glad I met you."

She smiled back. "I'm glad I met you, too."

And with that, we continued watching the beautiful fireworks blooming on the horizon.

***
Chapter End
Music End…? Nah, Keep it Playing
***

A/N: Another one done. Told ya it's a palette cleanser.

Welp. No more turning back now. Their story is nowhere near done, but for now, they're happily admiring the fireworks.

Sorry about adding that heaping spoonful of cheese...but...well...I'm not really sorry.

A Little side note: CHON is an amazing band. They're a prog rock band and their music is mostly instrumental with only a few songs having vocals. Seriously, have a listen. Bubble Dream, Perfect Pillow, Puddle, Fluffy... their stuff is pretty amazing.

Also, another little side note: yeah, I got the name 'Riwet' by slamming my hand on the keyboard.

Update on SAO: Hollow Fragment - I'm liking Philia so far. I also got introduced to a character called Strea, but I haven't hang out very much with her. Technically, I can introduce them to AWE, but I wanna finish the game first.

Speaking of finishing the game, I looked at the how long to beat website, and doing the story + important extras would take me around 150 hours. Hoo, boy. It'll take me a while to finish it. I don't wanna binge on it because I'm just gonna burn out of SAO, and that'll undoubtedly hurt AWE.

Also, I'm probably not gonna take a lot of stuff out of this game, because most of the events happen at Floor 76 and above, and I've already planned for Floor 75. This gets a bit complicated in Philia's case because a lot of her character development happened in the Hollow Area.

But hey, I'm keeping my options open.

As for the game, it's pretty enjoyable - it's got a bit of depth to it and the combat is satisfying. There's also some costumes and armor you can buy and equip. They're pretty diverse, ranging from sleek clothes, to pretty dresses, to cool plate armor, to...school swim suits...wedding dress...nothing but a button-up shirt?! How scandalous! In all seriousness, those...uh, what do you call them…" special?" armor gives some pretty good stat boosts and have some special buffs, but yeah...nah...

There's also a little dating minigame. You can take the girls around the city and talk...and hold hands...and bridal carry...and "Bed Talk"...I'm sticking with Asuna because I'm playing as Kirito. A Shipper never rests.

However, I do have some nitpicks. Massive drops in framerate when a lot of objects are in the area, only one other person in a party, some sidequests are needlessly tedious, some of the grind can be a slog, etc. With all that in mind, I'm still having fun playing it.

That's all for now. Thank you very much, and have a good one.